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LORDS OF TIME 

Joins our range of acclaimed pure-text puzzle adventures, at £9.90, for: 
BBC 32K COMMODORE 64 SPECTRUM 48K LYNX 48K NASCOM 32K ORIC 48k ATARI 32K 



ADVENTURE 
REVIEWS 

"Adventures which have a 
fast response time, are 
spectacular in the amount 
of detail and number of 
locations, and are available 
to cassette owners . . I am 
extremely impressed . . The 
Level 9 Adventures are 
superbly designed and 
programmed, the contents 
first rate. The implementa- 
tion of Colossal Cave 
(Adventure) is nothing short 
of brilliant; rush out and buy 
it. While you're at it, buy 
their others too. Simply 
smashing!" 

-SOFT, Sept 83 



\ 4 




I found Dungeon 
exceedingly well planned 
and written, with a fast 
response. There are well 
over 200 locations and the 
descriptions are both 
lengthy and interesting. The 
objects number about 1 00. 
It could therefore take 
some months to explore 
the whole network, giving 
many hours of enjoyment in 
the process." 

-C&VG, Sept 83 

"The descriptions are so 
good that few players could 
fail to be ensnared by the 
realism of the mythical 
worlds where they are the 
hero or heroine . . great fun 
to play." 

-Which Micro?, Aug 83 

"My appetite has been 
whetted and I intend to get 
my own copy (of Snowball) 
to play." 

-What Micro?, Dec 83 



MIDDLE EARTH ADVENTURES 

1: COLOSSAL ADVENTURE 

A complete, full size version of the classic mainframe game 
"Adventure" with 70 bonus locations added. 

2: ADVENTURE QUEST 

Centuries have passed since the time of Colossal Adventure 
and evil armies have invaded The Land. The way is long and 
dangerous; but with cunning you can overcome all obstacles 
on the way to the Black Tower, source of their demonic 
power, and destroy it. 

3: DUNGEON ADVENTURE 

The trilogy is completed by this superb adventure, set in the 
Dungeons beneath the shattered Black Tower. A sense of 
humour is essential! 

THE FIRST SILICON DREAM ADVENTURE 

1: SNOWBALL 

The first of Pete Austin's second trilogy. The giant colony 
starship, Snowball 9, has been sabotaged and is heading for 
the sun in this massive game with 7000 locations. 



ADVENTURE 
REVIEWS 

"This has to be the bargain 
of the year. If adventures 
are your game then this 
(Colossal Adventure) is 
your adventure." 

-HCW,5Sept83 

"Colossal Adventure is 
simply superb. Anyone who 
wishes to use adventures in 
an educational setting 
really must use and see this 
program as it emulates 
Crowther and Wood's 
masterpiece so well. For 
those who wish to move 
onto another adventure of 
similar high quality, 
Dungeon Adventure is to be 
recommended. With more 
than 200 locations, 700 
messages and 100 objects 
it will tease and delight!" 

- Educational Computing, Nov 83 

Colossal Adventure is 
included in Practical 
Computing's Top 10 games 
choice: "Poetic, moving and 
tough as hell." 

-PC, Dec 83 

"To sum up, Adventure 
Quest is a wonderful 
program, fast, exciting and 
challenging. If you like 
adventures then this one is 
for you" 

-NILUG#1.3 

"Colossal Adventure . . For 
once here's a program that 
ives up to its name . . a 
masterful feat. Thoroughly 
recommended" 
- Computer Choice, Dec 83 

"wholly admirable" 
- Your Computer, Sept 83 



THE LORDS OF TIME SAGA 

7: LORDS OF TIME 

Our congratulations to Sue Gazzard for her super design for 
this new time travel adventure through the ages of world 
history. Chill to the Ice-age, go romin' with Caeser's legions, 
shed light on the Dark Ages etc. etc. We'll be selling this 
game mail-order from January 1 st. 



Price: £9.90 each (inclusive) 

Level 9 adventures are available from good computer shops, 
or mail-order from us at no extra charge. Please send order, 
or SAE for catalogue, to: 

LEVEL 9 COMPUTING 

Dept V, 229 Hughenden Road, High Wycombe, Bucks 
HP135PG 

Please describe your Computer 




■ 



r\ nmicro 




Editor 

Graham Cunningham 

Assistant Editor 

Carmel Anderson 

Software Editor 

Graham Taylor 

itetet Sfobentumrs 
Tony Bridge 
Mike Grace 

Editorial Secretary 

Cleo Cherry 

Advertisement Manager 

David Lake 

Advertisement Executive > 

Simon Langston 

Administration 

Theresa Lacy 

Managing Editor 

Brendon Gore 

Publishing Director 

Jenny Ireland 

Telephone number 

(all departments) 
01-437 4343 

UK address 
Micro Adventurer, 12-13 Little Newport 
Street, London WC2R 3LD 

US address 
Micro Adventurer, c/o Business Press 
International, 205 East 42nd Street, New 

York, NY 10017 

Subscriptions 

UK £10.00 for 12 issues, overseas surface 
(excluding US and Canada) £16 for 12 
issues, US and Canada air-lifted US$33.95 

for 12 issues. 



Micro Adventurer is published monthly by 
Sunshine Books, Scot Press Ltd. Typesetting by 
In-Step Ltd, 77 Farringdon Road, London 
EC1. Printed by Eden Fisher (Southend) Ltd, 
Southend-on-Sea, Essex. Distributed by SM 
Distribution, London SW9 (telephone 01-274 
8611, telex: 261643). ISSN 0265-4156. 
Registered at the Post Office as a newspaper. 
© Sunshine Books 1984. 



ADVENTURES • WAR GAMES • SIMULATIONS 




SUNSHINE 



Letters 



5 Software Inventory 



24 



Your opinions on adventures, a place to 
turn to for help, and some advice from 
fellow adventurers 



Want to know what the new releases are? 
Look no further, here you'll find Pirate for 
the Spectrum and the Epic series for the 
BBC and a war game for the Atari, among 
others 



News 7 

Puffin launch two more fighting fantasy 
game books, Deathtrap Dungeon and the 
Island of the Lizard King, two adventure 
clubs have been formed, one is for BBC 
users, plus war game, simulation and 
adventure details 



The role of your life 



30 



Bob (Tollman looks at the range of role- 
playing games available and how they have 
developed 



Adventure File 



35 



Number One revealed 



12 




A comprehensive list of war games, 
simulations and adventures, which 
includes suppliers and the prices of 
programs for an assortment of 
machines. 

Your Adventures 44 

A program from a reader, S A Wilkinson, 
called Quest for the Spectrum challenges the 
player to embark on a treasure hunt for five 
precious keys 



Mike Grace believes he knows who Number 
One is in the television series The Prisoner 
and explains why 



Game writing for beginners 14 

Andv Mitchell tells how the most 
inexperienced games authors can write an 
adventure program 



Adventure Help/Contact 



49 



Tony Bridge looks at some of the problems 
readers have had with The Hobbit and Inca 
Curse and supplies encoded clues for those 
who want help 



Competition Corner 



50 



Monster bashing 



22 



Lyman Alpha looks at the pros and cons of 
fighting monsters in Dungeon and Dragons 
and solving problems in adventure programs 



Tisch is eager to retrieve the past glory 
dragons once held and she needs you to help 
her win back the runic rings of power. And 
for your trouble you could win one of 
the 20 Space Shuttle simulations from 
Microdeal. 



EDITORIAL 



ONE OF THE LAWS of quantum science, at the subatomic level, is that if you want to 
measure something's speed exactly, there's no way you can do the same for its position. 
And vice versa. The explanation is that an electron's location can only be measured at 
[he expense of its motion being indeterminably disrupted, for example by the measuring 
instrument used. This uncertainty principle raises the interesting possibility that millions 
of different worlds are being created all the time because any individual's observation of 
an action indeterminably disrupts that action. It's also got immediate implications for 
computers. For example, the principle is said to be creating problems for 64K chip 
designers, while other researchers have tried to put this "uncertainty" to profit in 
Josephson junction chips. However, IBM has recently decided to drop its research into 
these super-fast switching devices. 

There are lots of other interesting concepts in quantum science but let's stick with the 
first one for the moment and try applying it to the new Sinclair QL machine. After all, if 
Sir Clive can call his new micro a quantum leap, we're entitled to play the game of 
analogies as well. Announcing the machine made it easy to plot its position, but the 
speed with which it will make its way towards you is harder to assess (especially allowing 
for the strange sense of time which seems to exist around Sinclair). The QL's networking 
facilities, memory size and back-up storage make it possible to achieve some of the 
effects only talked about so far. It would be pretending at this stage to state exactly what 
will be done with these capabilities. For example, the extra memory could go towards 
more ingenious graphics or more realistic text-based adventures. Or perphaps the QL will 
pave the way towards multi-player games — with players taking on different roles and the 
computer itself playing a convincing range of characters. 

As adventures moved down from mainframes to micros a host of programming skills 
were developed and applied. Just try imagining what can be done as programmers learn 
to extend their repertoires even further. And so back to the beginning: if we know where 
we are now, we don't know how fast we are travelling. But the ride certainly promises to 
be exciting. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 3 



Hflvevou B€€n invoLV€D in pi 

mVSTCRIOUS 




ivolved in 
n mains 
rmanent 
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»y it while 

DIGITAL 



24 NORBRECK ROAD, NORBRECK 
BLACKPOOL, LANCS. FY5 1 RP 
TEL. (0253) 591402 ■ 



ii sum until imiiiiiy 







Send your hints, 

successes, 
complaints and 
compliments to 
Letters Page, Micro 
Adventurer, 12-13 
Little Newport St, 
London WC2R 3LD 



One's number 
is up 

I WAS interested to read Mike 
Grace's article on The Prisoner 
in your December issue. 

But I must point out that 
Mike Grace is under a mis- 
conception. The Prisoner was 
not conceived by Patrick 
McGoohan, even if he was the 
executive producer of the series 
and did direct some of the 
episodes. 

The creator of The Prisoner 
was, in fact, my client George 
Markstein who, as Mike Grace 
will have noted from the 
credits, story edited the first 12 
episodes as well. 

The pilot script, Arrival, was 
also written by George 
Markstein (with David 
Tomblin who was the 
producer). And it was George 
Markstein who was responsible 
for "the concept and mood of 
the whole series" which, as 
Mike Grace correctly states, 
"is set in the first few 
minutes." 

Further, the dialogue quoted 
in the article was written by 
George Markstein and, if you 
look closely enough, you will 
actually see Mr Markstein 
sitting behind the desk on 
which the prisoner's fist 
crashes down in every pre-title 
sequence. Therefore, as you 
will realise, George Markstein 
is No 1 ! 

It might be of interest to 
some of your readers to learn 
that this agency, which has 
represented writers of the 
calibre of George Markstein 
for more than 10 years, is now 
taking on the representation of 
software writers too. 

We would like to hear from 
anyone who has the kind of 
programming imagination and 
talent that created The 
Prisoner, so, if there's 



anybody out there who fits the 

bill they should contact me. 

Jacqui Lyons, 

Marjacq Scripts Limited, 

32 Cumberland Mansions, 

Nutford Place, 

London. 

A Quill for 
children 

I BUY Micro Adventurer 
regularly as I believe that 
simulations and games have an 
important part to play in 
computer-assisted learning 
with children. 

Could I ask through your 
columns if anybody has 
produced a simple skeleton- 
module adventure program 
that children could modify? 
The Quill is a little too difficult 
for them. The educational 
potential for creative English is 
considerable. 
P D Fiddler, 

Finham Junior Mixed School, 

Green Lane, 

Coventry. 

Cryptic 
clues 

I CAN understand the 
difficulty of how far to go 
when giving help for 
adventures. Giving a direct 
answer could spoil the pleasure, 
in working out a particular 
problem. But one could go 
round and round making the 
same silly mistake when all that 
is needed is a nudge in a 
slightly different direction to 
solve the problem. 

How about starting a 
column of cryptic clues 



supplied by readers who have 
solved an adventure and can 
help out in the two or three or 
more really sticky situations. 

I am at present battering 
through Adventure Quest by 
Level 9 Computing (fantastic 
programs) and to give an 
example I would say 'To 
dispose of the Giant you must 
first climb a tree'. 

If your readers could send in 
some of these clues after 
solving an adventure I am sure 
that it would give a lot of help 
as well as providing interesting 
reading. 
M Maloney, 
Beverley Road, 
Livertowe. 

WE APPRECIATE your 
problem. In fact some readers 
do write in with clues to 
adventures which we publish 
on this page (see below). If you 
have no luck here you could try 
the adventure contact section 
at the back of the magazine 
where someone might be 
familiar with the game you're 
doing. 

Gollum's 



riddle 



AM I the only person who 
seems to know the answer to 
Gollum's riddle in The 
Hobbit? Which animal has 
four feet in the morning, two 
at midday, and three at 
evening? It's obvious, man. 
(Baby crawling, man, old man 
with stick . . .) 

However, telling Gollum this 
does not placate him and he 
strangles me nonetheless. It's 
much easier to kill the nasty 
little creep to begin with. 

A friend of mine has dis- 




X wish you would tidy up after your 
adventure games, Sidney ! " 



covered that you can get and 
carry both Elrond and Bard. 
Carrying Elrond with you can 
be quite useful as he 
continuously distributes free 
lunches. And, to be honest, 
carrying Bard is the only way 
I've found of getting him to the 
Lonely Mountain. There must 
be a better way. 

Finally, I enjoyed the article 
on The Prisoner. Also, I think 
I've finally figured out what's 
going on. In the James Bond 
film Thunderball the 
SPECTRE organisation has 
both a Number One and a 
Number Two. Alas, they did 
not show No One's face, but 
from the voice I suspect it was 
either Norman Tebbit or 
Barbara Cartland. 

Come to think of it, Patrick 
McGoohan is pretty much the 
sort of thing you'd get if you 
left Sean Connery in a vat of 
embalming fluid and hair 
restorer for a few months. 
Obviously, McGoohan will be 
busted out of The Village in the 
near future by a crack squad of 
Albanian acrobats disguised as 
Judy Garland. 
Gethyn Jones, 
Caernarfon, 
Gwynedd. 

Programmer 
thanked 

I WAS very gratified to see a 
reference to Lords of Time in 
your January 1984 issue of 
Micro Adventurer. 

But I would like to make it 
clear to your readers that while 
the design of the game was 
mine, most of the hard work 
(programming) was done by 
Pete Austin of Level 9 
Computing. 
Sue Gazzard, 
Harrow, 
Middx. 

Nosferatu 
revamped 

WE have noted the comments 
in your review of Nosferatu in 
the December 1983 issue of 
Micro Adventurer, page 23, 
and would like to adviser 
readers that we now have the 
, final published version of this 
adventure game — minus the 
couple of bugs you mention. 
Andy Hieke, 
Terminal Software, 
Manchester. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 5 



■ • • ■ • 



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» • • • • ■ • • i 
• • 

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• • • 



• • • • ■ • - 



• • > ■ 



.• • • 



■ • • . . 

• • • • i 

»_•_■ a • 



••••• 



I' x 
9i£ 




The leading game (AP( 



(APOCALYPSE) 



. s MA Dt nas f° ur different maps, on any 
- %A,Ma one of which you may fight your 



war (see section A.). An additional 
tape which contains a further six 
maps may also be added to 
expand your atlas (see section B.). 
Alternatively, you can be NERO in 
the FALL OF ROME or Napoleon s 
right-hand man in NAPOLEON'S 
CAMPAIGN in 1813 (see section 
C). Can you survive the War of 
1984 or could you lead your 
marines from island to island 
in the PACIFIC war? (see 
section D.). 



• • • • . 




NEBULA A masterly introduction to a strategy game! 

48 K Spectrum 
£6.95 inc. VAT and P&P 



REDSHIFT LTD. C£ 

12c MANOR ROAD, STOKE NEWINGTON, LONDON, N16 

TEL: (01) 800 1333 wrkshop 

Apocalypse is produced under licence from The Games Workshop Ltd. 



Hi 



^37 



i§2r°«s 
1 




A. APOCALYPSE 

For: Spectrum 48K & 
BBC Model B 
£9.95 inc. VAT and PEtP. 
Available from J Menzies, 
Boots Ef Microdealer UK. 



REBELSTAR RAIDERS Can you survive the Rebel Star Raiders? 

48 K Spectrum 
£9;95inc. VAT and P&P 

FIRST EMPIRE Your introduction to complete 

"Table top moderated war games" 
48K Spectrum & BBC 

♦COMING SOON* 

p 

TIME LORDS Get entangled in the complexities of time travel .. . 

♦COMING SOON* 



C. Volume 2: 
CHAPTER 1 

FALL OF ROME 

NAPOLEON'S CAMPAIGNS 

1813 



B. Volume 1: 

NOVAMAPS 

Six New Maps! 

USA ARCTIC CIRCLE 

SE ASIA STAR SYSTEMS 

S AFRICA NETHER EARTH 



D. Volume 2: 
CHAPTER 2 

THE 1984 
PACIFIC WAR 



Expansion Kits for Spectrum 48K (B, C ft D only) 
£4.95 each inc. VAT and P&P 

Microdrive version available by negotiation 



HOW TO ORDER You may purchase any of the items listed by 
cheque or postal order All you have to do is fill in the details in the 
coupon enclosing your cheque/P O made payable to BINDERMAN Ltd 
and your order will be dispatched within 7 to 14 days All prices 
inclusive of VAT and P&P 



1 



Post to: REDSHIFT LTD, 12c MANOR RD, STOKE NEWINGTON. N16 

I would like to purchase item(s): 
(Please circle/tick item(s) required) 

A B C D (For Apocalypse) Available for BBC/Specrum (Delete which 
is not applicable) 

Rebel Star J 

First Empire 



E] Nebula 

Time Lords 



Raiders 



I enclose my cheque/PO for £ 
Name 



Address 



* * • - i 



...... i i i 



Tel (Day) TeMEve) 

Please allow 7 to 28 days for New Releases 



MA.* rt4 





imicron 




0 


\Vyf $d 











D 3 



GO 





if you think you've 

something 
newsworthy, caii 
01-437 4343 and let us 
know 



Adventure 
advice 
given to 
members 



BRITAIN'S first adventure 
club, which began recently, 
aims to take the guess work 
out of buying games. 

Called the International 
Adventure club if offers a 
range of services for members 
including crib sheets for 
hundreds of games, regular 
updates and a catalogue of 
available and worthwhile 
adventures. 

Being also a software 
company known as Adven- 
ture-Zone Software the club 
aims to have on stock all 
popular adventures. 

Simon Clarke, the 
managing director of the club, 
has alreadv received some 
response from players in the 
United States, Sweden, 
Norway, Israel, Hong Kong 
and the Falkland Islands. 

Two main services the club 
offers are the sale of adven- 
ture games at discount prices 
(to members only) and an 
adventure help line. 

At present the club has 63 
adventures on hand, and as it 
expands both nationally and 
internationally, Simon plans 



2 new fantasy game 
books from Puffin 



PUFFIN will this month 
release two more books in 
their fighting fantasy adven- 
ture game series. 

They are Deathtrap Dungeon 
and Island of the Lizard King, 
both written by one of the 
series' two authors, Ian 
Livingstone. 

In Deathtrap Dungeon you 
take up "the challenge of a life- 
time", issued by the baron of a 
distant village. 

Years ago, to bring prestige 
to his village, the baron and 
his subjects built a labyrinth 
into a hillside. Baron 
Sukumvit then offered a 
reward of 10,000 gold pieces 
and the freedom of the nearby 
town of Chaing Mai to the 
first person capable of getting 
through the labyrinth or 
dungeons. 

This year you decide to take 
on the challenge of the Trial 
of Champions and aim to be 
the first victor. 

In Island of the Lizard King 
it is your quest to rescue some 
kidnap victims and to assas- 
sinate the king of the island. 

You have accepted a plea of 
help from an old friend with 
whom you have recently 
become re-aquainted. His 
name is Mungo. 

Mungo lives in a poor 
fishing village that has been 
raided recently by the 
inhabitants of Lizard Island. 

These creatures have also 
kidnapped some young men 
from the town, and Mungo 
and his relatives are eager to 
rescue them. 

However, you must fight a 
group of genetic misfits, the 

to provide at any one time 
between 70 and 80 games for 
101 different makes of micro 
computers. 

The membership was 
expected to grow from just 
over 100 now to about 5,000 
within the next six months, 



results of the blundered 
experiments of the Lizard 
Island king. 

Other obstacles theatening 
your chances of survival are 
man-eating plants and giant 
beasts, victims also of the 
king's failed genetic 
experiments. 

All of the books in the 
adventure series of seven, with 
the exception of Warlock of 
Firetop Mountain, have been 
designed as autonomous 
adventures that can be played 
as if on, but without needing a 
computer or software. 

According to Clare Somer- 
ville, from Puffin, the books 
have evolved from role- 
playing and strategy games. 

"There are lots of different 
thought trails, so there is 



more than one way through 
the book. And the mazes are 
randomly generated so a 
player can't get used to it." 

Warlock of Firetop Moun- 
tain was the only book likely 
to be accompanied with 
computer software. 

The fiehting fantasy 
adventure series had been the 
best-selling children's paper- 
back books that Puffin had 
produced, with more than 1 
million copies having been 
sold since the first launches in 
September 1982, Clare said. 

The other five adventures in 
the series, some of which were 
also written by Steve Jackson, 
are Forest of Doom, The Cita- 
del of Chaos, City of Thieves, 
The Warlock of Firetop Moun- 
tain and Starship Traveller. 




The monster featured in Deathtrap Dungeon 



Simon said. The annual 
membership fee was £5. 

All the profits from the sale 
of in-house games and com- 
mercially produced ones to 
non-members would be 
ploughed back into the club. 

Among the games available 



Valhalla converted for the CBM 64 



VALHALLA for the Com- 
modore 64 should be hitting 
the streets any day now, 
according to Legend spokes- , 
man John Peel. 

The conversion of the game 
previously available only for 
the Spectrum should be 



completed by the beginning of 
this month. 

John said discussions were 
being held with manufacturers 
for the conversion of 
Valhalla onto other 
machines. 

Commodore users could 



look forward to an improved 
version of Valhalla compared 
to the Spectrum offering. 

"The characters will be 
lareer, in colour and flicker- 
free," John said. 

Valhalla for Commodore 
64 will retail for £14.95. 



from the club now are The 
Hobbit, the Scott Adams 
Mysterious Adventures I to 
12, Artie 1 to 5 and Pimania's 
Groucho. 

Machines catered for are the 
BBC A and B, ZX Spectrum, 
ZX81, Atari 400, 800, 600XL, 
Oric 1, Vic 20, Commodore 
64, Dragon 32 and 64, Apple, 
Tandy Colour and Video 
Genie. 

To contact the adventure 
help line or for further 
information concerning the 
club write to Simon Clarke, 
The International Adventure 
Club, 10 Ennis Close, 
Harpenden, Herts. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 7 



Spectrum 48K^j 

BATTLE 
1917 



Spectrum 48K 

BREWEBY 



CCS recreates 



INCLUDED IN the new 
releases from CCS Ltd are two 
strategy games and a war game 
all for the Spectrum 48K. 

Based on the First World 
War, Battle 1917 is a game 
designed for two players. It is 
played on a board which 
displays a battle map that 
changes with each game. 

The aim of the game is to 
test a player's skill and tenacity 
while in combat as a WWI 
general. 

Each player has 29 pieces, 
which include infantry, 
cavalry, tanks, artillery and a 
king. j > 

Like Chess, the object of 
the game is to kill the enemy 
king, who is the weakest and 
slowest piece on the board. 
The CCS strategy game, 

Arcade 
zones in 
on USSR 

ARCADE SOFTWARE has 
designed a game that loads in 
four parts for the Spectrum 
48K. 

The game is known as The 
Zone and has been under 
development for several 
months. 

Special features include full- 
screen, high-resolution images 
for most locations, a large 
vocabulary and a multitude of 
problems to work through. 

One of the game's four 
writers, Bruce Rutherford, 
says that The Zone is situated 
somewhere deep within the 
USSR. 

And in this forbidding 
territory live creatures 
endowed with a superior life 
force. Those who enter The 
Zone will be subjected to 
strange trials. 



Brewery, requires the player to 
develop business skills. 

Your task is to prepare the 
marketing and production 
plans of a brewery. 

In order for you to do this 
the program lets you define 
your objective in terms of 
sales and capital growth. The 
varying market conditions 
will affect your business 
peformance and will provide 
many levels of difficulty. 

In Stockmarket you get the 
chance to play the investment 
game using someone else's 
money. 

In this business simulation 
you are given a portfolio of 
up to six different shares 
which you manage for five 
days. 

You 'are given company 

The object of the game is to 
discover and unravel The 
Zone's dark secret. 

But to prevent you from 
doing this are a myriad of 
death traps that can be 
successfully avoided if you 
read and carefully follow 
certain sign posts. 

While there are no divisions 
based on levels of difficulty, a 
player's progress depends 
upon how well he solves the 
problems presented. 

The quality of your answer 
influences the type of 
problem, easier or more 
difficult, you next encounter. 
This then determines how fast 
you make your way through 
The Zone. 

"The program," says 
Bruce, "tests your intell- 
igence. If you can't carry out 
certain skills it will simplify the 
problems." 

The amount of memory 
required for all the problems 
made the program difficult to 
write, Bruce said, but he 
expected it to be released 
soon. 




reports, news flashes, share 
price reports and four graphs 
to assist you in making 
decisions. 

The shares rise and fall 
according to current trends 
and randomised news flashes. 




You must use your judgement 
to buy and sell profitably. 

At the end of the week the 
computer analyses your 
tactics and gives you a rating 
based on the quality of the 
decisions you have made. 



Big Brother's trifling 
with the jellyoids 

VISIONS Software Factory manager, Ian Andrew, you 



has news for George Orwell. It 
claims he had the date wrong 
when he penned his totalitarian 
tale. The events really occurred 
10 years later. 

1994 is an adventure losely 
based on Orwell's novel 1984. 
The main character in the 
game, Smithy, sets out to 
destroy the central computer, 
which is the bane of his life. 

But before he can complete 
his task he must overcome 
such obstacles as plasma 
bolts, jellyoids ("no trifling 
matter") and a poorly lit 
maze of corridors. 

1994, which was released 
earlier this year is available 
for the Spectrum at £6.95. 

Also jumping on the 
Orwellian bandwagon is 
Incentive Software with a 
business simulation called 
1984. •_. j 

According to Incentive 



take on the role of a Prime 
Minister and run the country 
and its economy to the best 
of your ability. But when 
inflation, unemployment and 
other economic indicators get 
out of hand you'll be made 
redundant. 

"At the beginning of the 
game and at various intervals 
throughout you are shown 
graphs on inflation, the 
balance of trade and exchange 
rates. You then go into wage 
negotiations with, perhaps, 
British Rail, make them an 
offer of about 9% while 
trying to keep inflation 
down," Ian said. 

"The game is quite easy to 
play. You answer yes or no to 
the questions the program 
asks." 

The simulation is available 
for the Spectrum at £5.50 and 
the BBC B at £6.50. 



BBC users' club to supply programs 



AN international BBC users 
club for adventure players has 
been launched in London. 

For a £12 annual member- 
ship fee you will receive a 
monthly newsletter, a pen- 
friend service and an adventure 
program written by a fellow 
enthusiast. 

According to the club 
organiser, David Tarlton, 



members will be sent a 
questionnaire asking them 
what facilities they would like 
to see the club provide and 
which members' games are the 
most popular. 

"If members can rate the 
programs we send out we will 
know which ones are the 
best," David said. 

"We'll sell the most popular 



ones in the club, and the best 
ones will be sold 
commercially. 

"After packaging and post- 
ing have been paid for the 
money will go to the authors 
of the games," he said. 

The club is a non-profit 
organisation. 

David has placed advertise- 
ments explaining how to join 



the club in most of the trade 
publications such as Acorn 
User and BBC Micro. 

He said that people from as 
far away as Singapore and 
Canada had expressed interest. 

Anyone interested in join- 
ing the club should write to 
David Tarlton at 18 Weardale 
House, Woodberry Down, 
London, N4. 



8 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



DENIS THROUGH 
THE DRINKING GLASS 




Why did Denis Thatcher visit the Pope wearing a truss and a 

parachute and carrying a lawn mower? 

What use is the cherry blossom? 

Who is that strange tramp in the woods? 

Only you can discover, but first you must deal with Ken 
Livingstone, Norman Tebbit and lots of other characters in 
this zany political adventure. 

Written in humorous verse. 100% machine code — using the 
Quill from Gilsoft. 

Losing is often funnier than succeeding — Don't play it, play 
with it — 48K Spectrum £5.50 incl. p&p. 

ARCHIMEDES'S MAGIC SCREW 

Probably the most difficult logic problem you will ever tackle. 

Fresh from inventing the camel driven date stoner, Archimedes 
is up to his neck in hot water again. Help him make new 
discoveries — Help him discover the secret of the universe — 
Help him find the soap. * 



APPLICATIONS, 
Dept M.A1, 
SSt. Pauls Road, 
Peterborough PE1 3DW. 




ARE YOU READY FOR 
THE PBM CHALLENGE? 

Everybody's a king to his home computer. But are 
you ready to take the ultimate challenge of multi- 
player play-by-mail (PBM) games, controlled by 
programs far larger and more sophisticated than 
most home systems can handle? Games for 10 
players. Games for 1 50 players. Battling for the fate 
of galaxies. Exploring strange, intricately- 
constructed worlds. Rising to power through alien 
political systems. Arguing, double-dealing, fighting 
your way to victory. 

FLAGSHIP magazine introduces you to Britain's 
fastest-growing hobby, with coverage of every 
computer-moderated game and amazing discounts 
for new games, worth over £10 in every issue! If 
you'd like to find out more, send £6 for 4 issues (or 
£1 .75 for a sample issue) to: 

FLAGSHIP (Dept MA), PO Box 714, 
Coleshill, Birmingham. 



<®>48K SPECTRUM 



ISL 



1984 



A GAME OF 
GOVERNMENT MANAGEMENT 



1984 




THE GAME OF 
ECONOMIC SURVIVAL 

THE BRITISH ECONOMY WITH YOU 
AT THE CONTROLS! WHAT SORT 
OF CHANCELLOR WOULD YOU 
MAKE WITH SEVERAL BILLION 
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PERFORMANCE RATING ARE ALL 
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ARE DOING. HOW MANY YEARS 
WILL YOU LAST? 

FREE INSIDE: Pocket Guide to 
Running Britain ! 

N003 £5.50 



MOUNTAINS 
QFKET 

ADVENTURE 

A MONSTER OF AN ADVENTURE 
PROGRAM! COMBAT, INTER- 
ACTIVE BEINGS, MONETARY 
SYSTEM, MAGIC, EDGAR, SAVE! 
LOAD FACILITY PLUS MANY 
OTHER FEATURES. 

As well as being a fast ingenious 
compelling adventure in itself -the 
Mountains of Ket is the first of a 3 
part series that builds into a 
mammoth adventurers challenge. 

Incentive: It could be adventageous 
if you achieve 1 00%!! 

N002 E5.50 






48K SPECTRUM CHALLENGE 
FROM INCENTIVE SOFTWARE LTD 



SPLAT! 



ARCADE 

ONE OF THE MOST ORIGINAL 
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"SPLAT! is one of the most 
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on the 48K SPECTRUM, It is 
certainly the most original" 

Computer & Video Games 

NOW AVAILABLE FROM WH SMITH 
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NOOl 



£5.50 



All programs run in the 48K ZX SPECTRUM and are available from all 
good computer shops. In case of difficulty please order direct using 
the coupon below. 



Please send me (tick box(es) required) 
1984 □ MOUNTAINS OF KET □ 



SPLAT □ 



All at £5.50 each (inclusive of VAT and 1st class postage) 
I enclose cheque/P.O. for £ or debit my Access Account No 



Name 

Address 



INCENTIVE SOFTWARE LTD., 54 London Street, 
Reading RG1 4SQ. Tel: Reading (0734) 591678 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 9 



48K SPECTRUM 





SOON FOR COMMODORE 64 




VALHALLA is supplied on a 48K Spectrum program cassette, with VALHALLA 
player manual and presentation box. As VALHALLA uses the full 48K RAM, 
microdrives and full-size printers are not supported. ZX printer optional. 

VALHALLA is normally available from stock, and orders are despatched by 
return. If, for any reason we are unable to fulfil your order within 14 days of 
receipt, we will notify you. 

VALHALLA cassettes carry an unconditional lifetime replacement guarantee. 

TO ORDER: (UK Orders Only) Simply complete the coupon, and FREEPOST 
with your cheque/P.O. made payable to LEGEND (UK Mail Order). 
Credit Card Orders: By phone 9-5.30 Mon to Fri. stating name and address. 
Card No. and item(s) required. 

RETAILERS: Please contact your regular distributor or LEGEND (Trade 
Distribution) at the address below. 

LEGEND (UK Mail Order) FREEPOST 
1 Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 1UY 
(0223) 312453 

MOViSOFT OPERATING SYSTEM UNDER LICENCE. 



Post to:- LEGEND (UK Mail Order) FREEPOST 
1 Milton Road, Cambridge CB4 1UY 

Please send me... Copy/copies of 

VALHALLA for the 48K Spectrum. 

I enclose cheque/P.O. for £ ^ " 

(£14.95 each inel. VAT and P&P). 4r 
Or I wish to pay by Access/Barclaycard/Visa 

Card No 

Please print name and address 

Name 

Address t 

— ■ • : co 

< 

Credit Card holder's signature 




pennyfarthing for 




WHEN THE PRISONER was first shown 
on television back in 1968 I was one of the 
eager fans who followed each episode, 
puzzled but intrigued at the quirky story- 
line and the inexplicable plot that seemed 
to get more and more unfathomable with 
the passing weeks. 

At last the final two episodes, Once 
Upon A Time and Fall Out, were to be 
screened. Fall Out was in two parts, which 
would, we were told by the media at the 
time and according to Patrick 
McGoohan, explain it all. 

All was to become clear. At last! You 
could almost hear the country sigh with 
relief as we all thought: "Now we'll find 
out what it's all about," and perhaps even 
discover the answer to the biggest 
dilemma: the identity of Number One. 

The butler 

I sat through Once Upon A Time with 
utter fascination and complete mystifica- 
tion, but instead of becoming clearer the 
plot was thickening even more. Now, 
more than ever, the final episode was 
awaited. After all, there was so much more 
to be exlained. 

The night came. All over the country 
people sat, glued to the screen, trapped by 
the whole affair. In the week preceding we 
had been going round asking, "Who is 
Number One? ' 9 , and putting forward 
suggestions: the butler? The controller? 
The supervisor? Number Two after all? 
And yet, in hindsight, we had been given 
the answer, we just handn't been able to 
recognise it. 

As Fall Out was transmitted it became 
obvious that the answer was to be late in 
coming. Further and further into the 
programme we went, and deeper and 
deeper became the symbolism — the 
allegory. How would they fit it into the 
time? Was this to be copout? Would we 
be treated to a series without an ending? 
Suddenly the Prisoner, who was 
escaping, had escaped. Suddenly he was in 
London with Number Two, the butler and 
youth, played by Alexis Kanner. And 
suddenly the whole thing was over and we 
were all left wondering quite what had 
happened and how McGoohan had got 
away with such an incredible fraud. 

Pandemonium hit the viewers. Frustra- 
tion was everywhere. People felt cheated, 
infuriated, exasperated, even violent. 
McGoohan was reported as saying that he 
had to go into hiding in the mountains 
for two weeks to avoid being lynched. 

Audiences weren't use to the idea of 
having to think, having to work it out for 
themselves. In Fall Out we saw Number 
One as a figure wearing a mask, and after 
the mask is pulled off we see a monkey 
mask, and then we see Number 6 (or 
McGoohan) and then it's over — in a 
flash. So Number One is really Number 
6. 



Well, we were given a clue in the number 
on the front door of Number 6'$ house in 
London, which the camera lingers over in 
Many Happy Returns. So if you watch the 
series again after knowing this fact, you 
can find subtle hints sprinkled throughout. 
And yet, if the documentary shown on 
Channel 4 is to be believed, even 
McGoohan didn't know who Number 
One was to be. 

I sat through the final episode in 1968 as 
bewildered as the rest. Yet, in the closing 
seconds of the episode I received a flash 
of insight that, for me anyway, tied the 
whole series together. I thought I knew 
what McGoohan had been trying to say. 

Let me remind you that in Fall Out the 
Prisoner was brought into a cave (after 
winning a fight to the death with Number 
Two in Once Upon A Time) to find the 
enigmatic Number One. But before he 
actually met the mystery man he had to 
undergo an inauguration ceremony, which 
consisted of an audience with masked and 
cowled figures who behaved with idiotic 
simplicity. This apparently was in recogni- 
tion of his right to be an individual. 

When he was finally confronted with the 
truth — that he was Number One, the 
Prisoner seemed to go berserk, bringing 
destruction to the Village before escaping 
with Number Two, the butler and youth. 

The four of them were next seen 
stepping from a van in London. Number 
Two headed for the Houses of Parliament 
(the symbol, of authority in our world). 
Back to his home went Number 6. As he 
climbed into his Lotus again, we saw the 
butler step up to the Prisoner's front door. 
As Number 6 drove off, the door swung 
open with the familiar hum of all doors in 
the Village — and it was that simple thing 
that made me realise what the whole thing 
had been about. 

Shattered reports 

As I see it, the intention of this scene 
was to demonstrate that the Village had 
always been life, civilisation, us, whatever, 
our own world is a Village. All the 
episodes are but symbolic episodes about 
life. Free For All was a political episode, 
The General had some pithy comments 
about education, Checkmate commented 
on the freedom of the individual (or 
perhaps the lack of it), Schizoid Man 
looked at our problems with our own 
identity (mental illness perhaps), and so 
on. And that was the key. My own realisa- 
tion meant quite a lot at the time, 
although in hindsight, and with the screen- 
ing of the long-overdue and slightly dis- 
appointing Six Into One — The Prisoner 
File, it does seem more obvious now. 

Of course, The Prisoner can never be 
fully explained. It isn't meant to be. It is 
what you see in it — and you should be 
free to see as much as you like. The series 
has been analysed and probed as the years 




Have you been going around 
identity of Number One? Mike 

have passed with over-enthusiastic ] 
thoroughness. Some would say analysed | 
too much and that The Prisoner was, after I 
all, just a television show. But in truth The I 
Prisoner was conceived to be more than i 
just a television show — and time has I 
proved it so. J 
What other series continues to amaze 1 
and delight after 15 years? What other ] 
series could you watch time and time again 
— without a hint of boredom? I might 
add that my own fascination might just be 
a help at this stage. Without a doubt 
Patrick McGoohan helped create a master- 
piece, whether it was to your taste or 
not. 

Over the years many myths and mis- 
conceptions have arisen concerning the 
show. Recently I read of an interview 
given by McGoohan on Canadian TV 
which shattered quite a few earlier reports. 
One revelation was the fact that The 
Prisoner was conceived as a seven-episode 
series (not 26 as I had read earlier). Sir Lew 
Grade had persuaded McGoohan to make 
it a 26-series run to help international 
marketing — but they could only just 
manage 17. 

Another revelation was that Rover, (the 
large balloon that had trapped Villagers) 
came about as a last-minute inspiration 
after the mechanical Rover prepared for 
the series had broken down on the day of 
shooting. It was a weather balloon in the 
sky that gave the production manager, 
Bernard Williams, the idea of using large 
balloons. \ 

I have already mentioned the documen- 
tary on Channel 4 but perhaps a further 
brief word would be applicable here. I 
found the attempt to mimic the style of 
the series slightly out of place, and 
definitely inferior to the original. While 
some of the interviews were fascinating, it 
was not so much what was said as what 
wasn't said that was interesting. 



12 Micro Adventurer March 1984 





thoughts 




nd 
ke 



in circles trying to guess the 
Grace knows, and tells who it is 

There seemed to me to be a definite 
feeling of antagonism between McGoohan 
and the other writers and directors which 
could be the reason for the success of the 
show. That McGoohan is an individual 
with strong feelings and a strong belief in 
himself came across fiercely. That Lord 
Grade allowed such a controversial series 
to be made also impressed me. 

Once you realise that the whole concept 
is an allegory, some of the earlier 
conversations begin to take on a new 
meaning. Look afresh at this short extract 
from Checkmate. 
Villager: "I'm on my side." 
Number 6: "Aren't we all?" 
Villager: "You must be new here. In time 
most of us join the enemy — against 
ourselves." 

Number 6: "Have you?" 

Here is an extract from what is, to me, 
one of the best and most sinister episodes, 
Dance of The Dead. 
Number 6: "I have a choice?" 
Number 2: "You do what you want. As 
long as it's what the majority want ..." 
And later in the same episode: 
Number 6: "Why haven't I a costume?" 
Number 2: "Perhaps because you don't 
exist." 

So how should we view the series? I 
think we have to accept three levels. The 
first is on the surficial level of a spy 
thriller. Here Number 6 was a spy who had 
been abducted to the Village, a place where 
spies were kept and interrogated for 
sinister and unexplained purposes. This 
level sold the series, added to the excite- 
ment, and enhanced the mystery (especially 
on first viewing). 

Also (and this was one of the revela- 
tions of the Prisoner File documentary) 
there now seems no doubt that the series 
was intended as a follow-up to Danger 
Man where the prisoner was indeed John 
Drake. Thus, in the eyes of some of the 



writers it would seem that the surficial level 
was to be as far as the series would go (and 
it was only the intervention of 
McGoohan that drove us later onto a 
deeper level). I found the fact that the 
series was made up of several interpreta- 
tions by the makers of the show a good 
explanation of the multiplicity of levels. 

The second level I have already 
mentioned — that of the Village as the 
world, Number 2 as authority and the spy 
story as an allegory that represents the 
many facets of our totalitarian society 
including our view of numbers and our 
loss of individualism in order to fit into 
society. This is an obvious level on 
second viewing, and is not too unusual. 

On the third level, which is virtually 
impossible to fully analyse as each of us 
would react differently, the Village can be 
viewed as a person. Are we trying to 
escape from ourselves? We all do — at 
times. 

Now the sky becomes the limit in 
explanation. Why are the long corridors 
in the hospital filled with prone figures 
apparently being brainwashed? What is the 
relevance of the repeated motif that 
Number 6 must always return to the 
Villages — even drawn back as in Many 
Happy Returns? When Number 6 finally 
gets to be Number 2 in Free For All he just 
plays with his power — wastes it. And the 
ultimate — if we are Number One then why 
is Number One depicted as an evil force 
ruling over everything? Are we all 
governed by our evil side? 

The plots intertwine, making it 
impossible to watch an episode on just 
one level. For example you could watch 
Dance of The Dead as a spy story: his 
attempts at escape, his attempt to leave a 
message in the wallet of the dead body; or 
as a comment on society: the travesty of 
justice in his trial, the conversation on 
freedom in a democracy; and on the 
deeper level of self-realisation: the attack 
of the Village that contains a nightmare 
flavour I still find disturbing to watch and 
the Prisoner's lack of costume because he 
doesn't exist. 

Open umbrella 

In Checkmate we still have the spy theme 
with the escape onto the boat, mingled 
with the deeper personal level linking life 
to a chess game and loss of freedom: 
"We're all pawns, m'dear". The point that 
Number 6 is trapped by his own assertive- 
ness and fails to achieve what he most 
desires is subtlely made. 

I could continue with example after 
example of how I see the series — but that 
might spoil it for you. Instead I'll confine 
myself to a few more interesting aspects. 
One that seems to cause a lot of excite- 
ment is the fact that Channel 4 have shown 
the episodes in a different order from the 
previous screenings. However, some 



people claim that the series has never been 
shown in the right order. I have heard a 
rumour that Free For All was intended to 
be the second episode in the series. And it 
would seem that Dance of The Dead 
should also run early in the series judging 
by some of the lines. Yet this time Many 
Happy Returns was shown second, and 
previously The Chimes of Big Ben came 
second. 

Another feature which lacks a clear 
explanation is the predominance of circles 
in the Village. The umbrella held open 
often forms a circle, the light over 
Number 6's bed is another, Rover is an 
obvious circle. The ending of Fall Out was 
the same as the beginning of every episode 
— another circle. Then we have the penny- 
farthing, the symbol of the Village. On the 
badges, in the credits, in Number Two's 
room inside the Green Dome (another 
circle), in odd shots, the pennyfarthing 
crops up all over the place. 

Be seeing you 

Does it have a special meaning? Some 
have suggested it forms the ultimate in 
unreality (whatever that means). To others 
the wheels exist as a large circle beside a 
small one, as in history (and I don't really 
understand that one either). I suspect it 
was just a handy symbol which fitted the 
concept of the show as McGoohan saw it 
and nothing more. After all, there is a 
danger of analysing too deeply. 

What is certain is that the Prisoner 
cannot escape, as highlighted in that 
superb final shot of his face zooming up 
to the camera as the bars clang in front of 
him. It is also shown that the harder the 
Prisoner tries the harder it is to escape. 

Again I have heard it reported that 
McGoohan intended for this to be the 
main theme — that to be an individual in 
society and to be free in yourself you must 
conform. The harder you fight — the less 
freedom you acquire. 

Another article states that McGoohan 
intended the door opening in his home at 
the very end of the series to represent the 
fact that the individual can never attain 
freedom — that when the door opens on 
its own we know there is someone inside 
waiting to start the whole thing all over 
again. There is no escape. And that is 
where I first came in. I have enjoyed the 
series immensely. I think the whole 
concept ripe for adventure — and I hope 
someone acquires the rights. 

To think that it all began as McGoohan 
was filming an episode of Danger Man in 
Portmeiron and has grown into a cult 
show that fascinates the world over is 
quite staggering. As an expression of his 
own philosophy it must delight Number 6 
that his ideas and determination still strike 
a chord in so many. 

One final point: when asked which 
phrase he would like the series to be 
remembered by, Patrick McGoohan said 
he hoped it would be the greeting, "Be 
seeing you." The meaning of this is, like 
everything else in the series, up to the 
individual to interpret ... or is it? □ 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 13 



TIRED OF zapping nasties or writing 
arcade games in Basic? Baffled by machine 
code? Then writing adventure games is just 
what you need. 

Writing adventure games is one of the 
easiest of the popular games for home 
computer authors to succeed at — and 
some think the best fun. The games can be 
set anywhere in time and space from the 
mists of pre-Christian magic and sorcery to 
the far reaches of space beneath alien suns 
— and in your world anything goes. 

Most early adventures were written on 
large mainframe computers by bored 
programmers when the boss wasn't 
looking. And they lacked the benefit of 
sound or graphics. On the BBC micro, 
games can be given the added spark of life 
with the use of the powerful sound 
generator and the colour of Teletext 
graphics. 

Exciting task 

Most newcomers to programming can 
easily write a 10 line program but when they 
attempt an adventure game, its sheer size 
causes untold problems. This is like a handy 
man building a wall five bricks high then 
trying to use the same techniques to build a 
skyscraper. The key to success is structured 
programming. Before you groan and turn 
the page fear not, BBC Basic is here to solve 
this problem. 

Newcomers' early programs, which are 
unstructured and sprinkled with GOTOs, 
turn into a nightmare when the program 
size exceeds one sheet of listing paper. BBC 
Basic, with its use of procedures, enables 
the novice to build large adventures as 
simply as turning a small Lego model into a 
skyscraper. 

Convinced? I hope so, for you will find 





beginner 

guide 
games writing 

Andy Mitchell reveals the secret of successful 

adventure programming 




that writing this style of game is more 
exciting than playing most others — and it's 
easier. What's more once you have the 
basic building blocks of your first game you 
will be able to use them again and again to 
create endless adventures to amuse and 
baffle your friends. 

The first task of the game writer is to 
decide where and when he wants his 
adventure to take place. The most popular 
locations are associated with sword and 
sorcery, such as Castle of Riddles by 
Acornsoft. This is because we can do 
anything we like with the element of magic 
in the game. 

If we find a need to do something which 
would be illogical in the real world, for 
example crossing a wide crevasse, we can 
simply wave our magic wand and presto 
we've created a bridge. 

In space scenarios we could use a matter 
transmitter or an anti-gravity power pack. 
The location chosen is usually a closed-off 
area to restrict the player to certain routes. 



to 

20 
NG* ( 3 
30 
40 
50 
60 
70 

ao 

90 

too 
i io 

i20 
130 
140 
150 
160 
1 70 
.180 
190 
200 
210 
220 
230 
240 



M*<6> ,L0C<7> -S*<9) „L*<7> ,VERB$<4> ,S 



THEN C2*=F*:IF C1*=F* GOTO 30 



MODE 7 

CURRENT*- STR I NG* ( 255, ? "> sDIM CON* (15) 
i A7-=0 

NOUNS=9: VERBS-4: OBJECTS^'/: SNGLE r =3 
R%=1 s FINISH=0: DQOR«0: WELL-O: CURTAINED: DRAGON=0 
ROOMS- 14 
PROCINIT 
PROCDISPLAY 
REPEAT 

01*-" h j C2*=" '* 

INPUT IN*:LP=0 

PR0CDECODE:Ci*--4 r *:PRQCDEC0DE: IF F*< 
SEARCHED 
PROCMOVE 

IF SEARCH-0 PROCVERB 
IF SEARCH=0 PROCONE 

IF SEARCH-0 PRINT" I DONT UNDERSTAND" 
IF R%==14 FINISH-1 
UNTIL FINISH =1 
PROOF I NAL: END 
REM*******- 
DEFPROCINIT 
PROCQETROOM 

REM READ IN ROOM CONNECTIONS 

RESTORE 1570: FOR A=1T0 ROOMS : FOR B=l TO 6: READ C'/. s CON* < A ) =CON* ( A ) +CHR* < C'A 



250 
260 



it-it 



AND LOCATIONS 
7: READ S*(A> 



) : NEXT: NEXT 

REM READ IN DIRECTIONS 

RESTORE 1710: FOR A=l TO 6: READ C7-: MS<A>= 
A) -M* (A) +A$: NEXT 

270 REM READ IN OBJECT NAMES 
280 RESTORE 1720: FOR A=l TO 
290 REM READ IN NOUNS 

300 RESTORE 1730: FOR A=A TO NOUNS: READ S*(A):NEXT 
310 REM READ IN VERBS 

320 RESTORE 1740s FOR A«l TO VERBS: READ VERB* (A) : NEXT 
330 REM READ IN SINGLE WORDS 

340 RESTORE 1750: FOR A=l TO SNGLE: READSNG* <A) : NEXT 
350 ENDPROC 

360 REM*#**#**###***#**##* 
370 DEFPROCGETROOM 
380 CURRENT*— " M 

390 RESTORE 1430: FOR AZ=1 TO R%: READ CURRENT*: NEXT 
400 ENDPROC 



M*<A)«CHR*<C%) : READ A*: M* < 



READ LOC(A): READ L*CA): NEXT 



caves, ruined temples, 
or abandoned space 



Such places are 
castle dungeons 
stations. 

Having decided on our location we must 
now decide on the purpose of the game. 
Two types of purpose are most common, 
the first is simply to fully explore the 
location and overcome all the obstacles 
within it, and thus eventually finding the 
hidden treasures (Sphynx Adventure). 

The second type is where there is a single 
object of purpose to the game and the other 
articles hidden within the location are 
simply to be found and used to find the 
solution or treasure. Having decided on the 
location of the game and its purpose we 
should draw a map of our adventure land. 

To illustrate the building of an adventure 
from the beginning to end I have chosen a 
traditional location of a castle filled with 
magic and treasure. 

The map of the adventure is drawn up as 
shown in Figure 1 where each square is a 
room or location. Thanks to the beauty of 
BBC Basic we will be able to build our game 
out of individual bricks which we can easily 
use to create a game as large as we like. 
These procedures could also be used in 
future games. So sharpen your sword, 
polish your shield and boldly step forward 
into the dark . . . 

Magic word 

The object of our game is for the player 
to find all the treasures hidden in the castle 
and then escape through the southern gate. 
The main program is that this gate is 
locked. To ensure that the player gets past 
all the obstacles before he completes the 
game we should design the problems so that 
the answer to the last one cannot be solved 
without the answers to the preceeding 
problems. Therefore we must decide on the 
solution to the final problemm (ie getting 
out of the southern gate) and block this by a 
series of other puzzles. 

In our game the gate in room one cannot 
be opened unless we give the magic word 
shazam, which is written on the wall in 
room 13. But we cannot get in to room 13 
until we kill -the dragon in room 12. We 
cannot kill the dragon without the sword 
from room five. We cannot enter room five 
until we pierce the gold curtain in room 
four. We cannot pierce the curtain without 
waving the rod. We cannot get a rod until p> 



14 Micro Adventurer March 1984 





PRESENTS A PANTOMIME 










Cuthbent 






Selected titles of 



On Cassette £8 each 

8©©IAL games available from larger branches of Boots 





<] we enter room eight. We cannot enter 
room eight until we drop a coin in the well. 

In this way we can confuse the player by 
ensuring that the objects he or she requires 
are scattered throughout the castle in a 
pattern that forces someone to visit all parts 
before the final problem can be solved. 

Our next task is to draw up a map of the 
adventure locations and allocate each a 
room number noting where each object or 
treasure is to be initially located. 

As can be seen from the map there are 14 
different rooms. At the beginning of the 
same R% will be made equal to the room 
number at which we want the player to start 
(line 40). In our case this will be number 
one, (courtyard). Having drawn our map 
we can now write a list of room descriptions 
in room number order. Each description 
must describe the permanent features of the 
room, its entrances and exits, for example a 
large green-coloured room with exits to the 
south and north. 

4 

Killing a dragon 

Those parts of the room which may 
change (THE DOOR SOUTH IS 
LOCKED) are omitted from the description 
at this point. Having written our 
descriptions (lines 1420-1560) we must now 
draw up a table of room connections. This 
will be used to show what room we will 
arrive in depending on which direction we 
leave the previous room. There are six 
numbers required for each room that 
correspond to the room arrived at should 
we travel: NORTH, SOUTH, EAST, 
WEST, UP, DOWN. For example room 
connections for room 10 — DATA 12, 9, 0, 
11, 11, 0. Note: if we cannot travel in a 
particular direction we allocate the number 
0. 

As you can see for room 10 a move north 
would take us to room 12 and a move west 
or up would put us upstairs in the tower. 
The room connection date can be of three 
types: zero indicates no path; 1-59 indicates 
a normal room number; » 60 a number 
greater than 60 means that there is a path in 
that direction but it is blocked at this time 
(for example a dragon bars the way). 

All this connection data is entered as 
DATA statements in room number order 
(lines 1570-1700) and the program will read 
this into a string DIM CON$ (line 240) 
where CON$(l) would contain room one 
numbers 9, 74, 6, 2, 0, 0 and CON$(2) 
contains room two numbers. 

When we overcome an obstacle that 
blocks the path, such as killing the dragon, 
we use the procedure PROCCHANGE (line 
980) to subtract 60 from the connection 
number in CONS, leaving us with a number 
between one and 59, thus giving us access to 
the next room. 

As. can be seen, from the logic diagram 
(Figure 2) the main activity of the program 
is to compare the players commands with a 
list of known words and if it recognises 
them to call the appropriate procedure. 
(For example DROP COIN — calls 
PROCDROP and GET RUBY — calls 
PROCGET). 

The player may give one or two word [> 



410 
420 
430 
440 
450 
460 
470 
430 
490 
500 
510 
520 
530 
540 
550 
560 

r i70 
580 
590 

>" " ) 
600 
610 
620 
630 
640 

) =RX 
650 
660 
670 
6B0 
690 
700 
710 
720 
730 
740 
750 
760 
770 
780 
790 
£300 
810 
B20 
830 
840 
850 
860 
870 
880 
890 
900 
910 
920 
930 
94 0 



REM******************* 
DEFPRQCD I SPLAY 

PRGCGETROOM: PRINT" YOU ARE " 5 CURRENT* 
IF RX=7 AND WELL^l PROCM < 3) 
IF R/>4 AND CURTAIN=1 PROCM (4) 
IF RX=12 AND DRAGON=0 PROCM (8) 
REM CHECK FOR OBJECT IN ROOM 

FOR AX=1 TO OBJECTS: IF LOG < AX ) --RX THEN PR I NT "HERE THERE IB A " 

NEXT 
ENDPROC 

ftEM********************* 

DEFPRGCM ( XX) 

RESTORE 1770: FOR AX=1 TO X7-: READ AS 5 NEXT 

PRINT AS 

ENDPROC 

REM* ** * ***** * * * * * * * * # 

DEFPROCDECODE 

F*« " " : LP-LF+1 : IF MIDS ( IN*, LP, 1 ) ~~" " THEN 580 

F*~F*+M I D* ( I N$ , LP - 1 ) : LP~LP-t- Is IF <M I D* ( t N$ , LP , 1 ) < > " " ) AND ( M I ( I N3 
THEN 590 
ENDPROC 

REM************ ********** 
DE FPROCGET 
SEARCH- 1 

B7.=0:F0R AX-1T0 OBJECTS: IF S$(A7.)»C2* THEN CX^AX: B7.= 1 : AX-OBJECTS: IF 
THEN BX=2: LOC (CX) =0: PR I NT "OK" 
SEARCH=1 
NEXT 

IF BZ*0 THEN PR I NT "You cant" 
ENDPROC 

REM******************* 
DEFPROCONE 

BX~-=0:FOR AX=1T0 SNSLEs IF SNG* <A7.) *C1* THEN CX-AX; BX~1 : AX-SNGLE 

NEXT: IF BX=0 ENDPROC 
SEARCH=1 

ON CX GOTO 750,760,770 

PRGC INVENT: ENDPROC 

PROCMAG I C : ENDPROC 
PROCD I SPLAY: ENDPROC 
ENDPROC 

REM******************** 

DEFPROCVERB 

BX=0:FOR AX=1T0 VERBS: IF VERBS (AX) -Cl$ THEN CX=AX: B%» 1 : AX=VERBS 

NEXT: IF BX=0 ENDPROC 
SEARCH* 1 

FOR AX=1T0 NOUNS: IF S*<AX)~C2* THEN A=A7.: BX=2: AX=N01JNS 
NEXT: IF B7.= 1 THEN PRINT"! dont understand" : ENDPROC 

ON CX GOTO 870,880,890,900 
PROCGET : ENDPROC 

PROCDROP: ENDPROC 
PROCK ILL: ENDPROC 
PRUCWAVE: ENDPROC 

ENDPROC 
REM***** * * * * # * * **# ** 
DEFPROCKILL 

IF C2*<>" DRAGON" OR DRAGON= 1 OR LOC < 1)<>0 OR RXOI2 PR INT " YOU CANT" 



LS < AX) 



> < 



loc (c: 



EN DPR □ 



950 PROCM C 5 ) : DRAGON= 1 : PROCCHANGE 



960 ENDPROC 

970 REM********************* 
980 DEF PROCCHANGE 

990 FOR AX=1T06: A*=MID* <CON* <RX) , AX, I ) : BX=ASC (AS) : IF BX >60THEN BX=BX-60: B*-CHR 
* (BX) : AS=MIDS (CONS (RX) , 1 , AX- 1 > 5 AS=AS+BS: CONS (RX) =A*+MID* (CONS (RX) , AX+1 ,6) 
1000 NEXT;* BX=2: ENDPROC 
1 010 REM**-****************** 
1020 DEFPROC INVENT 

1030 IF CI SO" INVENT "THEN ENDPROC ELSE SEARCH= 1 : CX= 1 : FOR AX= 1 TO OBJECTS: IF LOC 
< AX ) =0 : PR I NTLS < AX > 
1040 NEXT: ENDPROC 
1 090 REM******************* 
1 100 DEFPRGCWELL 

1110 IF RX=7 AND WELL-0 THEN PROCM < 2 ) : WELL-" 1 : PROCCHANGE :L0C(3)=8 
1120 ENDPROC 

1130 REM ****************** 
1 140 DEFPROCDRQP 

1150 SEARCH^l s B7.=0: FOR AX^ITO OBJECTS: IF SS (AX) =C2S THEN CX-^AX: BX-1 s A7.-0BJECTS: 
IF LOC(CX)=0 THEN BX=2: LOC (CX) -RX: PR I NT "OK" 
1160 NEXT _ 

1170 IF BX<2"'THEN PRINT"Ydu. have'nt got one" : ENDPROC 
1180 IF C2*="C0IN" PROCWELL 
1 190 ENDPROC 

120<Xs6eM**** **************** 
1 2 YO DfeFPROCW AVE 

li&O IF C2*O"R0D" OR RX<>4 THEN PROCM (6) : ENDPROC 
/T230 IF L0C(2)O0 THEN PRINT"Ydu have none": ENDPROC ELSE PROCM ( 7) s CURTAIN-1 : PR 
DCCHANBE 

1240 ENDPROC 

1250 REM******************** 

1260 DEFPROCF INAL 

1270 PR I NT "CONGRATULATIONS YOU HAVE ESCAPED" 
1280 ENDPROC 

1 290 REM****************** 
1300 DEFPROCMOVE 

1310 AX=0:FOR A=1T0 6: B$~MID* (M$ (A) ,2) : IF C1*=B* SEARCH= 1 : B$= " " : B$-M I D* ( M$ ( A ) , 1 
, 1) :AX=ASC(B*) : A=6 
1320 NEXT 

1330 IF SEARCH=OENDPROC 

1340 B*=MID$ (CON* (RX) ,AX, 1) :A7.=ASC<B*> 

1350 IF AX=0 OR AX>59 THEN PRINT "YOU CANT GO THAT WAY" ELSE RX=AX: PROCD I SPLAY 
1360 ENDPROC 

1 370 REM***************** 
1380 DEFPROCMAGIC 

1390 IF RXOl OR D00R=1 PROCM (6 >: ENDPROC 



16 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



FROM CARNELL SOFTWARE 



^^^^^^ 



A . 



"THE WRATH OF MAGRA" 
A THIRD CONTINENT 
SERIES ADVENTURE 

The first born has been destroyed. The 
Black Crystal of Beroth has been banished. 
The alliance of Evil has been defeated by the 
armies of Lord Fendal. So ends the Third 
Age. Now we invite you to write your name 
in the history of the Fourth Age of the Third 
Continent. 

You will meet friends and enemies, old and 
new, in the long awaited sequel to Volcanic 
Dungeon. Using high resolution graphics 
and combining the best qualities of "Black 
Crystal" and "Volcanic Dungeon", we will 
allow you to become part of .this tale of 
revenge. 

"The Wrath of Magra" comes as three, 48K 
programmes on cassette, boxed with in- 
struction manual and book detailing the his- 
tory of the Third Continent and the many 
spells you will be using throughout the 
game. For the 48K Spectrum @ £12.50. 

NOTE: "The Wrath of Magra" is a complete 
adventure. You need not buy "Volcanic 
Dungeon" or "Black Crystal" to play it. 

Available from Feb '84 



CARNELL SOFTWARE LTD., 

North Weylands Ind. Est., Molesey Road, Hersham, Surrey KT12 3PL 

DEALERS: Contact us for your nearest wholesaler. 




CARNELL SOFTWARE LTD 





<]commands and the program holds these in 
strings Cl$ and C2$ respectively- The 
known words are easily split into four 
groups: directions; nouns; verbs; single 
word commands. 

A list of each type is made up as four 
separate DATA statements. The verbs are 
held in VERBS (line 1740), the single words 
are held in SNG$ (line 1750). The NOUNS 
are held in the game DIM as the names of 
the treasures and objects S$ (line 
1720-1730). The direction words are held in 
the move dimension M$ (line 1710). The 
variables VERBS, NOUNS, OBJECTS and 
SNGLE are used to hold the maximum 
number of words in each list. 

The comparison between the players 
commands and the known lists is carried 
out by three procedures: PROCMOVE 
(1300-1360); PROCVERB (800-910); 
PROCONE (700-780). 

PROCMOVE compares single word 
commands against the Direction commands 
held in M$ (for example NORTH, 
SOUTH). PROCVERB compares the first 
word against the objects and nouns in S$. ; 
PROCONE is used to compare against 
single word commands in list SNG$. 

In each case if a successful comparison is 
made 'the variable SEARCH is set to 1 to 
stop further searching for the comparison. 
If after all words have been compared and 
SEARCH still equals 0 the message I 
DONT UNDERSTAND will be given (line 
160) and the process returns to await 
further commands from the player. 

Movement around the map is achieved 
using the four items: List of room 
descriptions; list of room connections; the 
variable R% which is set equal to the 
current room; dimension M$. 



START 



GET DIRECTION 
REQUESTED 
{eg NORTH) 



READ CON$(R»»J 




PRINT 
YOU CAN'T GO 
THAT WAY 



RVo * NEW ROOM 
NUMBER 



PRINT 
NEW ROOM 
DESCRIPTION 









13 

MAGICIAN 
ROOM 










* 




12 

DRAGON 












11 

TOWER 
EMERALD 


10 

CORRIDOR 














9 

NORTH HALL 
SILVER 




• 




4 

DUNGEON 


3 

STEPS 
COIN 


2 

WEST 
HALL 


1 

COURT 
YARD 


6 

EAST 
HALL 


7 

WISHING 
WELL 


8 

SECRET ROOM 

ROD 
RUBY 


5 

VAULT 
SWORD 




14 

FREEDOM 
ROAD 





Figure 1: a map of the castle showing how the rooms are positioned 



Figure 2: the logic diagram 



The dimension M$ holds the direction 
commands plus a number allocated to that 
direction — NORTH = 1 SOUTH = 2 
EAST = 3 WEST = 4 UP = 5 DOWN = 6. 

This data is entered as DATA 
l,NORTH,2,SOUTH,3,EAST,4,WEST,5, 
UP,6,DOWN. The setting up of M$ is. 
carried out in PROCINIT (lines 210-350). 
When the player gives the command 
NORTH it is read in and stored in F$ by 
PROCDECODE then transferred to Cl$. 

Golden sword 

PROCMOVE is used to compare this 
against the commands in M$. If a match is 
found we then find from the room 
connection data in CONS whether the 
requested direction is permitted (line 1350) 
and if so, move the player to the new room 
by setting R°/o to the new room value. The 
move is completed by using 
PROCDISPLAY to print the room 
description for the new R%. 

Scattered around our adventure we will 
have treasures and magical items. To build 
these into our game we first draw up a table 
of items allocating each two descriptions. 
For example a long black rod, ROD, a gold 
sword, SWORD. 

The purpose of the one-word description 
is to be used during commands such as GET 
SWORD. The longer description is used 
when describing the object: HERE IS A 
GOLDEN SWORD. 

We must decide where, on our map, we 
wish the objects to be initially located. 
These locations will be the room numbers in 
which the object is to be found so the gold 
sword is placed in room five. To indicate an 
object held by the player we will allocate 
location 0. The table of names and 
locations can now be entered as a DATA 
statement as shown in the program listing 
(line 1720). This data is read in by 
PROCINIT and stored in dimensions: LOC 
holds location numbers of each object; S$ 
holds short object description. L$ holds 
long object description. 

PROCDISPLAY can now be used to 
print the current room description and step 
through dimension LOC to find any 
location that matches the current room and 



print out the long object description held 
L$ for the particular object (line 480). 
Similarly PROCINVENT (line 1020-1040) 
is used to give an inventory of the objects 
held by the player by simply searching LOC 
for any locations which are zero. 

On receipt of a GET command the 
procedure PROCGET (620-680) is used to 
first ensure it recognises the object name 
being requested. If recognised the location 
of the object is checked to ensure it matches 
the current room. If all is correct the 
location of the object in LOC (object 
number) is set to zero to indicate the player 
is now holding it. 

The reverse procedure PROCDROP (line 
1140-1190) is used to leave objects in a 
room. It is at this time we may wish to 
check for special events such as DROP 
COIN in the wishing well room and call 
some other procedure (line 1180). 

The task of printing replies to the player 
is carried out by PROCM (line 520-550). 
This procedure simply carries out a number 
of READ commands of the message data 
list depending on the value of the calling 
parameter. This is useful for giving 
identical replies from different procedures. 
These messages are also used for those parts 
of a room description which can change — 
A DRAGON BARS THE PATH 

As can be seen in PROCDISPLAY (line 
460) a check is made on the value of R% to 
see if we are in the dragon's lair (R% = 12) 
and if the dragon is still alive 
(DRAGON = 0) then PROCM(8) is called 
to add to the room description. 

As an example of the addition of new 
commands to this basic game I will now list 
the changes necessary to add the single 
command 'HELP'. 

• Add the word HELP to the list of single 
command words 1750 DATAINVENT, 
SHAZAM, LOOK, HELP 
•Increase the value of SNGLE in line 30 to 
SNGLE =4 

•Increase size of single word dimension 
SNG$ in line 20 

•Add procedure jump in PROCONE 740 

ON C°7o GOTO 750,760,770,775 

•Add procedure call 775 PROCHELP: 

ENDPROC 



18 Micro Adventurer March 1984 





•Insert new procedure: 
150 REM******* 

1060 DEFPROCHELP 

1070 PRINT 'SORRY THE MAGICIAN 

HAS FORBIDDEN ME TO HELP' 
1080 ENDPROC 

The standard procedures and variables 
which are used as the basis of all future 
expansions are: PROCDECODE (decodes 
input command line into Cl$ and C2$) 
PROCGETROOM (loads current 
description in CURRENTS) 
PROCDISPLAY (prints room description) 
PROCMOVE (handles move commands) 
PROCGET (used for picking up) 
PROCDROP (used to drop objects) 
PROCLOOK (displays current location) 
PROCGETROOM (loads current room 
description in CURRENTS) PROCINIT 
(loads room connection data, object names, 
object locations and known words) 
PROCVERB (executes 'Two Word' 
commands) PROCONE (executes 'One 
Word' commands) PROCCHANGE 
(changes room connection data) PROCM 
(message printing procedure) R% (current 
room number) CURRENTS (holds current 
room description) LOC (location numbers 
for objects) S$ (short object names and 
Nouns) L$ (long object names) VERBS 
(holds known verbs) SNGS (holds known 
single words) SEARCH (command 
comparison flag) FINISH (game end flag) 
CONS (holds room connection data) MS 
(holds direction words) VERBS (max verbs) 
NOUNS (max nouns) OBJECTS (number 
of objects) ROOMS (number of rooms). □ 



<3 



1 400 PROCM < 1 ) : DOOR 55 1 : PROCCHANGE 
1410 ENDPROC 

1420 REM*****ROOM DESCRIPTIONS**** 

1430 DATA IN THE COURTYARD OF THE CASTLE 



EXITS ARE TO THE NORTH WEST EAST- THE 



MAIN ENTRANCE IS SOUTH 
1440 DATA IN THE WEST HALL. THERE 
1450 DAT AON A FLIGHT OF STEPS 
1460 DATA IN A DUNGEON. THERE ARE STEPS 
COVERED IN A GOLD LIGHT 

1470 DATA INSIDE A TREASURE VAULT- THE 
1480 DATA IN THE EAST HALL - THE EXITS ARE 
1490 DATA IN A SMALL ROOM. A WISHING WELL 



IS AN EXIT EAST AND STEPS DOWN WES 



UP EAST AND AN EXIT SOUTH WHICH IS 



EXIT IS NORTH 
WEST AND EAST 

« HERE. THE 



STANDb 



EXIT IS WEST 



1 500 
1510 
1520 

WEST 
1530 
1540 
1550 
1560 
1570 
1 580 
1 590 
1600 
1 6 1 0 



DATA IN A SECRET ROOM BEHIND THE 
DATA IN THE NORTH HALL- EXITS ARE 
DATA IN A LONG CORRIDOR LEADING 

DATA IN A TOWER ROOM . THE EXIT 
DATA IN A DRAGONS LAIR. THERE ARE 

DATA IN A MAGI ANS ROOM. WRITTEN ON 
DAT AOUT SIDE THE CASTLE THE ROAD 
DATA9, 74,6, 2,0,0 



WISHING WELL. THE EXIT IS WEST 
NORTH AND SOUTH 
NORTH SOUTH. THERE ARE STEPS UP TO THE: 



STAIRS ARE EAST 
EXITS NORTH AND 
THE WALL IS THE 

LEADS TO FREEDOM 



SOUTH 

WORD SHAZAM 



DAT AO, 0, 1 



t > 



0 

4 



0 , 3 * O 



DAT AO- Q 9 
DATA0,65.,3 
DAT A4 ,, 0 , 0 j, 0 ,0,0 
DAT AO, O, 7 ? 1 O, 0 
DAT AO, 0,68,6., 0,0 
DATA0,0,0,7,0,0 
DATA 10, 1 „oJ 0,0,0 
DATA1 2,9,0,, 11,11,0 
DAT AO, 0, 10,0,0, 10 
DAT A73„ 10, 6, O, 0,0 
DAT AO, 12,0,0,0,0 
DAT AO ,0,0,0,0,0 

DATA 1 , NORTH , 2 , SOUTH , 3, EAST , 4 , WEST , 5 , UP , 6 , DOWN 

DATASWORD, 5, GOLD SWORD, ROD, 8, BLACK ROD, COIN, 3, GOLDEN COIN. SILVER, 9, BAR OF 
SILVER, EMERALD, 11, LARGE GREEN EMERALD . PEARL ,13, LARGE PINK PEARL , RUBY 8 , HUGE RED 
RUBY 

DATADOOR, DRAGON 
DATAGET, DROP, KILL, WAVE 
DATA I NVENT , SHAZAM , LOOK 
REM***** MESSAGES ****** 

DATATHERE IS A FLASH OF LIGHT AND THE MAIN GATE OPENS 

DATACHING! THE COIN DISAPPEARS DOWN THE WELL WHICH MAKES A SECRET DOOR TO 
THE EAST OPEN 
1790 DAT A A SECRET DOOR TO THE EAST IS OPEN 

DATATHERE IS A HOLE IN THE GOLD CURTAIN 

DATA THE SWORD FLASHES - AND THE DRAGON SCREAMS AND DISAPPEARS 

DATANOTHIMG HAPPENS 

DATAA FLASH FLIES FROM THE ROD AND PIERCES THE CURTAIN 
DATAA DRAGON BARS THE WAY NORTH 



1620 
1 630 
t 640 
1 650 
1660 
1670 
1680 
1690 
1700 
1710 
1720 



1 730 
1740 
1750 
1 760 
1770 
1780 



1 300 
1810 
1 820 
1830 
1 840 



ADVENTURES 



48K SINCLAIR ZX SPECTRUM 




You are a Knight of Camelot, 
searching for Merlin's lost 
treasure. On your way you 
will discover the Witches' 
Tower, rescue a Princess 
held bv the wicked Wizard 
of Trill. £5.95 



You discover the entrance 
to an ancient pyramid 
blocked by a rock. Once 
inside, you discover fire 
rooms, ice rooms and 
other traps set by the 
builders to protect the 
Pharaoh. £4.95 




A rope above a rock fissure 
is the only way into this 
Magic Mountain, or is it? 
Legends tell of vast stores 
of treasure but also of 
poisonous spiders, lizards 
and magic at work. £4.95 

Send SAE for full list 



An old deserted mining 
town holds the clues to 
the location of a lost gold 
mine. Once in the mine, 
your problems are not 
over - the roof creaks 
alarmingly and might 
cave in. £4.95 



A full war-time escape 
Adventure. As a prisoner 
of the Germans, you 
must escape through the 
network of tunnels, rooms 
and chambers. The fence 
around the camp is elec- 
trified and guards are 
evervwhere. £6.95 

**NEW** 



T\T TTnnO A r^r^^V^X Arrrn DeptE FREEPOSTEM463 (No stamp) 
PHIPPS ASSl II I ATFT 172 Kingston Road, Ewell, Surrey KT190BR 
A A AAA A ^ riUUV/V^irillJkJ Telephone 01-393 0283. 24 Hour answering. 

Prices include postage (outside Europe add £1.00 per item). Access and Visa cards we/come 




March 1984 Micro Adventurer 19 



COMING SOON FROM 

Melbourne House 





call 




arms for 



monster fighters 



TO FIGHT or not to fight, that is the 
question. In most adventure games, if one 
encounters a monster, one does not really 
fight to get rid of it. In Crowther's original 
Colossal Cave Adventure, a player can; 
drive away a fierce green snake by releasing 
a little bird that attacks the snake. You can 
even kill a dragon with your bare hands, 
but you can hardly call that fighting. 

Weapons and magic 

In Dungeons and Dragons, the monster- 
fighting occupies about 70% of the playing 
time, although it really depends on how the 
dungeon master arranges the game. It has a 
rather sophisticated combat mode that 
involves weapons, magic, intellectual and 
physical status of the players and monsters. 
Hence *D and D's great popularity. 



Lyman Alpha compares the brain-teasing problems of an 
adventure game with the sophisticated combat style of 

Dungeons and Dragons 



Fighting in D and D is truly great fun. 
Take away the fighting and the resultant 
game would be similar to an adventure 
game, but I doubt that it would hold a 
player's interest much longer. Unlike 
adventure, D and D is a sociable game, so 
when it comes to fighting everyone gets a 
chance to bash away at the monster. If D 
and D consisted solely of problem solving 
then the less proficient players get left 
behind as all the problems are likely to be 
solved by the experienced players. This, 
though, is fine for an adventure game 
where there is only one player. 

It would be nice, however, if one could 



have a sophisticated combat system as well 
as complex problems in computerised 
adventure games. 

I do not know why many adventure 
programmers avoid this. Perhaps it is 
because combat subroutines eat up a large 
amount of memory. 1 suspect that 
programmers believe that lengthy des- 
criptions and a vast number of locations are 
more important than the fighting element. 1 
shall explain my combat system and how to 
implement it in the hopes that this void in 
adventure gaming might be filled. A nice 
mixture of fighting and problem solving go 
well together and I think one needs 



PROGRAMMED BY L .ALPHA 



**************************** 



2-> SWING 3) THRUST 4) ESCAPE' 



319IF 
328IF 
330 IF 



AX=1 THEN PR I NT " YOU 
AX=2 THEN PR I NT " YOU 
AX=3 THEN PR I NT -YOU 
RND ( 1901 > PROBABI LYX 



; MONSTER* ; 
; WEAPONS 1 " 
" ; WEAPONS; 

BUT YOU'VE 



WITH YOUR " ; WEAPON* ; 
AT THE " s MONSTERS; 
AT THE " ; MONSTER* : 
MISSED HIM'"' :GOT0428 



OR MDEFX<=8 ORMDEXX<=8 

ki 1 1 x=k i 1 ix+ liENDPROC 

THENPRI NT "THE 



THEN PRINT -WELL DONE 1 YOU HA 
jMONSTER*;- TRYS TO ATTACK YO 



48 REM 
50REM 
68 REM 
70 REM 
80 

90PROCINIT 
1 0 0REPEAT 
1 10PROCMONSTER 
I 20PROCWEAPONCHG I CE 
1 38PR0CSTATUS 
140PROCFI6HT 
150PROCBONUS 
160 UNTIL FALSE 
170 

180DEFPROCF I GHT 
196 PRINT 

208PR INT "WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO?" 
218PRINT 
220PRINT" It HIT 
230AX=GET-48 

248 IF AX<=0 OR AX>=5 THEN 230 
250 IF AX=4 THEN PROCESC : GOTO 190 

260PROBABI LYX=»< dex ter l t yX-MDEXX/2-5* <VERBX=AX> + RND< 5> > 
270PRINT 

280PRINT-HIT PROBABILITY = - ; PROBAB I LYX ; " X " 
290PRINT 

ATTACK THE ' 
SWING YOUR ' 
THRUST YOUR 
THEN PRINT" 

340HITSTRX=strenqthX*< 7+WEAP0NSTRX-2* <VERBX=AX> ) / 1 1> ( *( 1-MDEFX/ 150> 
350 PR I NT" AND HIT HIM WITH STRENGTH "jHITSTRX ■ 
368MSTRX=MSTRX-HITSTRX/2 
379MC0NX=MC0NX-H I TSTRX 
388MDEFX=MDEFX-HITSTRX/4 
398MDEXX=MDEXX-HI TSTRX/3 
488PRGCSTATUS 
4 10IFMSTRV.<=0 OR MCONXC=8 
KfZ DESTROYED THE " [MONSTERS 

420IF MDEXX-dexten tyX/2>RND< 100) 
U BUT HE MISSES YOU ! " : GOTO 1 90 

43BHITSTRX=MSTRX*< ( 1-def enceX/ 169) *2> 

440 s t r en g t hX=s t r en g t h'/.-H I TSTRX/2 

450 c on s 1 1 t u 1 1 on/.= constitute onX-H I T ST RV. 

460dexteri tyX=dexten t y'/.-H I TSTRV./3 

470de+enceX=de+enceX-HlTSTRX/4 

488PRINT"THE " ;MONSTERS ; " ATTACKS YOU WITH HIT STRENGTH " jHITSTRX 
490IF HITSTRX08 THEN PROCSTATUS 

588 IF strenQthX<=0 OR const l tu t 1 onX<=8 OR dex ter l t vX<=8 OR def enceXOB THEN PR 
I NT ■ OH DEAR, YOU ARE DEAD . " : PROCDEAD 

5I0PRINT"WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO* 7 ( 1-4) " 

528GOTO230 
538ENDPROC 
548 

550DEFPROCESC 
360 PR I NT 

578 IF RND< 100>>dexterityX-MDEXX 
PE' " :ENDPROC 

580PRINT-OK YOU ESCAPE ! " 
598PR0CMONSTER 
6B8PR0CWEAP0NCH0I CE 
6 1 8PR0CSTATUS 
628ENDPR0C 
630 
640 

650DEFPROCIMIT 
66BCLS 

670strengthX=RND<.50> + 50 
680c on s 1 1 t u 1 1 onX=RNO ( 58 ) ♦ 50 
698 dex ter i tvX=RND<50) +50 
700de*ence>;=RNO<58> +58 
7 10k i 1 r-.=e 

728PRINT"WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON 1 
730PRINT 
740ENDPROC 
758 
768 

770DEFPROCMONSTER 
780RESTORE950 
798M0NSTERS=FNW0RD 
e88RESTORE9*0 

B 18MQNSTER*=MQNSTER*+ " " + FNWORD 
820RESTORE978 

838M0NSTER*=M0NSTER*+ " "+ FNWORD 
848PRINT 

358PR I NT ST R I NG* < 38 , " X " ) 



THEN PR I NT "THE " ; MONSTER* i " WON'T LET YOU ESCA 



860PRINT-YOU ENCOUNTER A "; MONSTER* 

870PRINTSTRING4'. 33, "*") 

880PRINT 

89BMC0NV.=RND< 50) +50 
900MSTRX=RND< 58) +50 
910MDEFX=RND<50; +58 
928MDEXX=RND^58? +50 
930ENDPROC 
940 

958 DATA FIERCE, HQRR I FY I NG , G I ANT , HORR I BLE , GREAT 

960 DATA GREEN , RED . BLACK , GOLDEN ,WH I TE 

978DATA SNAKE , DRAGON , DINASUAR .MONSTER , SPI DER 

988 

998 

1800DEFFNWORD 

18 10AX=RND< 5> + 1 

10 20BX=1 

1038REPEAT 

1840READ A* 

18 58BX=BX+ 1 

1B6BUNTI L AX=BX 

10 70=A* 

1088 

1098 

I 100 

1 1 10 

1 1 20 DEF PROCSTATUS 
1 130 PR I NT 

1 140PRINT " STATUS"TAB'. 13) "Y0U"TA6<26) "MONSTER" 
1 1 50 PR I NT 

1 160PRINT " STRENGTH"TA8< 13) ; s t r eng t hX ;TAB< 26)MSTRX 

1 170PRINT"CONSTITUTION"TAB< 13) :consti t u 1 1 onX ;TAB< 26) MCONX 

1 1 88 PR I NT " DEXTER I TY " TAB < 13) ; dex ter i t yX ;TA8t 26) MDEXX 

1 1 98 PR I NT " DEFENCE" TAB ( 13) J def enc eX j TAB< 26) MDEFX 

1280PR1NT-WEAPON"TAB< 13) WEAPON* 

1210PRINT 

1220ENDPROC 

1238 

1248 

1250 

1260 

1 270DEFPROCWEAPONCHO ICE 

1288PR INT "WHICH WEAPON WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE''" 
1298 PR I NT 

1380PRINT-D SWORD 2) MACE 3> HATCHET 4> LAI-ICE" 
1310AX=GET-48 

1320 IF AX<=8 OR AX>=5 THEN 1310 

1338REST0RE1488 

1348BX=8 

1 358REPEAT 

1 368READ WEAPONS .WEAPON ST RX ,WEAPONDEFX .WEAPONDEXX , VERBX 
1378BX=BX*1 

isbbuntil ax=bx 

1398ENDPR0C 
1488DATA SWORD ,8,8,0 
14 10DATA MACE.8,-1. 1 



1.0 



1 
1 

- 1 



0,-1,3 



1420DATA HATCHET 
1430DATA LANCE, 1 
1448 
1450 
1460 

1470DEFPROCDEAD 

1480PRINT"WOULD YOU LIKE ANOTHER GAME?" 
1498A*=GET* 

1588IF A*="Y n THEN RUN 
1518GOTO1490 
1528 
1530 
1540 

155BDEFPR0C BONUS 
1560 PR I NT 

15?8PRIMT"PRESS <SPACE> TO CONTINUE" 
1580 IF GETtO" " THEN 1580 
1598CLS 

1688PRINTSTRING*08,"*") 
1610PRINT 

1620PRINT"YOU DRINK THE HOLY WATER WHICH 
1 638s t r enq t hX=s tr eng thX+0 .8*RND< 180 -strength/.) 
l648const i tut l onX=const l tut i onX+8 . 8*RND< 10 0-const l tut ion/.) 
1650de+"enceX=def enceX + 0 .8*RNDt 100-def enceX) 
1660dex ter i tyX=dex ter i tyX+0 . 8XRND< 100-dex ten tyX) 
1 6 70 PROCSTATUS 

1680PRINT-YOU HAVE DESTROYED ";Kil1Xi" MONSTERS" 

1698PRINT 

1 700ENDPROC 



REVITALISE YOU." 



22 Micro Adventurer March 1984 




WELCOME TO THE DUNGEON 

YOU ENCOUNTER A GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE 
XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXKXXXXXXXXXXXKXX3CXX 

WHICH WEAPON WOULD YOU LIKE TO USE? 
1) SWORD 2) MACE 3> HATCHET 4) LANCE 
STATUS EXCULIBER MONSTER 



STRENGTH 98 

CONSTITUTION 77 

DEXTERITY 65 

DEFENCE 81 

WEAPON SWORD 



95 
88 
81 
51 



WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? 

1) HIT 2) SWING 3> THRUST 4) ESCAPE 
HIT PROBABILITY = 27*/. 

YOU SWING YOUR SWORD AT THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE BUT YOU'VE MISSED HIM' 
THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE TRYS TO ATTACK YOU BUT HE MISSES YOU ! 
WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO" J 

1) HIT 2> SWING 3) THRUST 4> ESCAPE 
HIT PROBABILITY = 34^ 

YOU ATTACK THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE WITH YOUR SWORD BUT YOU'UE MISSED HIM 
THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE ATTACKS YOU WITH HIT STRENGTH 3 
STATUS EXCUL I BER MONSTER 



STRENGTH 96 
CONSTITUTION 74 
DEXTERITY 64 



95 
88 
81 



something to relieve the frustration during 
an adventure game. 

My system is similar to that of D and D. 
You have four indicators that reveal your 
state of health and fighting ability. 
Strength: indicates one's strength and the 
maximum force you can generate. Con- 
stitution: encompasses one's stamina and 
general health. Dexterity: indicates one's 
agility and hand-to-eye co-ordination. This 
factor determines whether you hit or miss. 
Defence: your resistance to brute force. 

Hit probability 

The player can use various weapons 
which affect different results. For instance, 
if a mace is used to hit a monster the desired 
result is achieved, but it is no good for 
defence and when you are hit your points 
are reduced. Verbs such as hit, swing and 
thrust also affect the performance of the 
weapon. In my system I have included three 
verbs to attack. One must use the right 
words to gain the best effect. 

There are five types of monsters and 
descriptions. I use two sets of five 
adjectives. Their status is set randomly 
above 50. 

When one attacks a monster, the 
program first works out the hit probability 
which depends on the player's dexterity, the 
monsters' dexterity and how you are using 
your weapon. 

The percentage is displayed and a result is 
then notified, together with the hit strength. 

The hit strength depends on the player's 
strength, the weapon, the verb, and the 
monster's defence. 

The resultant monster-strength is 
calculated as follows: strength = strength 

— hit strength /2. Constitution = con- 
stitution — hit strength. Defence = defence 

— strength /4. Dexterity = dexterity — hit 
strength /3. 

You can play the program as it is but it is 
primarily designed to be incorporated in an 
adventure game. It can be compacted in IK 
byte using shorter variable names and 
multi-statement lines. □ 



DEFENCE 
WEAPON 



88 

SWORD 



51 



WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DO? (1-4) 
HIT PROBABILITY = 33*/ 

YOU ATTACK THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE WITH YOUR SWORD AND HIT HIM WITH STRENGTH 51 
STATUS EXCUL I BER MONSTER 



STRENGTH 96 
CONSTITUTION 74 
DEXTERITY 64 
DEFENCE 80 
WEAPON SWORD 



6? 
37 
64 
38 



THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE ATTACKS YOU WITH HIT STRENGTH 2 



STATUS 


EXCULIBER 


MONSTER 


STRENGTH 


95 


69 


CONSTITUTION 


72 


37 


DEXTERITY 


63 


64 


DEFENCE 


79 


38 


WEAPON 


SWORD 


WHAT DO YOU WANT TO DC 


( 1-4) 



HIT PROBABILITY = 32X 

YOU SWING YOUR SWORD AT THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE AND HIT HIM WITH STRENGTH 45 
EXCULIBER MONSTER 



STATUS 



STRENGTH 95 

CONSTITUTION 72 

DEXTERITY 63 

DEFENCE 79 

WEAPON SWORD 



46 
-8 
49 
26 



WELL DONE! YOU HAVE DESTROYED THE GIANT GOLDEN SNAKE 
PRESS <SPACE> TO CONTINUE 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 23 



Graphic 
Aztec 
puzzle 

Adventure Aztec Tomb Micro 
Commodore 64 Price £7. 95 
Formal Cassette Supplier 
Alligata Software, Superior 
Systems Ltd, 178 West St, 
Sheffield. 

GRAPHICS combined with 
text seems to be the in-thing for 
adventures at the moment, and 
Aztec Tomb follows this trend. 

The quest starts in an 
ordinary house — well, maybe 
not so ordinary. Its interior is 
rather small to say the least, 
but with skill or luck you 
should soon find yourself in 
the Amazonian rain forests, 
trying to discover an Aztec 
tomb. 

A -split-screen technique is 
used. The graphics occupy the 
top two-thirds of the screen 
(with space at the right-hand 
edge for describing visible 
objects); descriptions, re- 
sponses and input are confined 
to the lower portion. 

The background is black 
against which the text 
colouring leaves a little to be 
desired in the way of clarity. 

Each location is presented as 
a simple, yet colourful picture 
of the scene. For example a 
bedroom is represented by 
three walls, a bed and bedside 
cabinet. 

Naturally, you'll want to 
open the cabinet drawer (spelt 
draw in the program). If you 
do, the picture is replaced with 
one where the drawer is pulled 
out. 

The graphics are attractive 
and, best of all, drawn 
instantly — there is no waiting 
while chunks of the picture are 
filled in with colour. 

Objects lying around for you 
to examine or pick up are not 
shown, but are merely 
described in the text. 

There is no facility for 
switching to a text-only mode 
— some adventurers prefer to 
leave the pictures to their 
imagination. 

The vocabulary seemed 
small but adequate. Apart 
from the usual N,S,E,W 
abbreviations to four letters 

are accepted. 

Having got stuck quite early 
on, I decided to call for help. 
This crv from the heart was 




JU 






What's on the way in the adventure world — if 
you have a new adventure, war game or real-life 
simulation which you are about to release send 
a cupy and accompanying details to 
Software Inventory; Micro Adventurer 
12 13 Little Newport St, London WC2R ii_D 




For Cc*nrr*xkye64 



always met, not unfairly, with 
the response "Examine the 
think". Good advice — I 
decided it was time I examined 
the listing. 

It turned out to be easy to 
break into the program, a fair 
part of which was written in 
Basic. 

The listing is semi-protected 

Blackboard 
is out to 
get you 

Adventure Pirate Micro 
Spectrum 48 K Price £9.25 
Format Cassette Supplier 
Chalksoft Ltd, 37 Willowslea 
Rd, Worcester. 

PIRATE is described, in the 
blurb, as an adventure 
program for children. 

Not knowing quite what to 
expect, I slipped the cassette 
into the tape deck, and absent- 
mindedly started to load the 
program. 

The lounge was starting to 
get dark, being lit only by the 
glinting of tinsel and paper 
chains for Easter. Enough of 
mind-wondering. The instruc- 
tions have finished loading. 



(it overwrites itself on the 
screen) but to a determined 
adventurer not much of an 
obstacle when desperate for a 
clue and further progress. 

Examining listings could be 
called cheating, and, in the 
main, I would agree. 
Publishers should break-proof 
Basic adventures to protect 
unscrupulous and unpersistent 
adventurers (who, me?) from 
themselves. 

The adventure seemed 
interesting enough from the 
progress 1 made, although one 
or two of the puzzles seemed a 
little illogical or unreal in their 
solution. I found one bug — a 
jar was described as full when 
it was empty. With its simple 
stylised graphics, the adventure 
is probably more suitable for 
ihe younger player (the inlay 
recommends it for 1 1 year olds 
and over), although some of 
the problems are a bit sticky. 
Worth a play. BC 

The adventure comes in two 
parts. The first is on board 
your ship, which is sailing the 
"seven seas me hearties!" Part 
two takes place on a secret 
island, but more of that later. 

While sailing around in part 
one, you will face various 
difficulties, such as torn sails, 
men overboard or a leaky hull 
You can also find yourself 
becalmed or even ship- 
wrecked. 

There are other pirate ships 
to be fought and captured, but 
beware — if you are defeated 
you will be made to walk the 
plank. 

You will find several islands 
on your travels, one of which 
has a mysterious black cat, 
which, with very little 
persuasion will tell you its 
name. Remember this as you 
can't get into part two without 
it. 

This is either a very fickle 
feline or it has an identity crisis 



because it has a different name 
each time you play. 

On finding Treasure Island I 
was attacked by an old man 
that I presume must have been 
Ben Gunn. 

One island contains a 
dragon, which must, of course, 
be slain. At this point, if you 
have amassed enough jewels 
and can remember the name of 
your new pet, you can proceed 
to part two. 

You find yourself in a 
harbour of a strange island. 
The cat tells you that its master 
is a king who is held captive by 
Blackbeard somewhere on the 
island. Your mission, should 
you decide to accept it, is to 
rescue the king. 

It is well worth making a 
map of the island as you go, as 
you will undoubtedly die 
several times by falling off 
cliffs, being killed by 
Blackbeard's pirates or in 

forest fires. 

When you die, you start 
back at the harbour again. 

To keep your strength up, 
you can eat when you find 
banana trees, and the 
opportunity may present itself 
for a nice piece of roast pork. 

Once you have tracked him 
down, you must kill 
Blackbeard to release an 
extremely grateful king. 

So, to sum up, Pirate has 
some nifty little tunes, but they 
become a bit repetitive, and the 
graphics are very basic. 

The only responses required 
by the program are the four 
directional keys plus Y and N. 

Pirate did not really capture 
my imagination, but then it 
isn't really intended to. I don't 
think it will ,be challenging 
enough for anyone but 
younger children. Overall, I 
would say that it is not good 
value at £9.25. PM 




(wit) 



ADVENTURE 



prop 

?X SPECTRUM 
48k 




mm mm 

^^^^mmmp mmmmm^w 





24 Micro Advcniurer March 1984 





Everest 

hopes 

dashed 



Simulation Everest Micro 
Dragon 32 Price £7.95 Format 
Cassette Supplier Salamander 
Software, 17 Norfolk Rd, 
Brighton, East Sussex. 
AS THE words "Regret Hank 
died during night" came up on 
the screen, I leaned back from 
the keyboard. The expedition 
was over. The hopes of so 
many men had been dashed by 
an error of judgement 
concerning the distribution of 
food. We had failed to 
conquer Everest. 

This game (complete with 
video-type case) is one of the 
latest offe rings from 
Salamander Software, who 
have now grown to be one of 
the most reputable software 
houses to produce Dragon 
programs. 

Everest is a simulation of 
mountaineering. 

The player has the choice of 
tackling any one of three peaks 
(Nuptse, Lhotse or Everest) 
and the choice of Spring or 
Autumn (in Autumn the 
weather conditions are worse). 

After choosing these, the 
climbers for the day must be 
picked, and then loads 
allocated. If they have more to 
carry, or are forced to go 
without food, they become 
weaker, and three climbers 
dead means that the expedition 
is called off. 

At the end a rating is given, 
which may either be a rude 
comment or a numerical 
representation of how well the 
player has done, depending on 
how good he or she is. 

To accompany the rating 
there are a transferable host of 
other features, including a hi- 
res display of the actual climb, 
transferable to any climber, 
which all add to the overall 
enjoyment. 

Everest is all BASIC, but 
don't be put off, because it 
must be one of the best 
simulations I have seen for the 
Dragon. 

Judging by the realism of the 
game, Everest has obviously 
been well thought out, and the 
author has put a lot of effort 
into making it real. The 
instruction booklet reads well 
because whatever the program 



may be, it is not user friendly. 

I liked this game, and I am 
sure that many a would-be 
Chris Bonnington would enjoy 
spending the long winter nights 
in front of the fire climbing 
Everest. MG 




Limited 

space 

flight 



Simulation Space Shuttle 
Micros BBC B, Atari 16K, 
Tandy Colour, Spectrum 48K, 
Dragon, Electron, CBM 64, 
Oric. Price £8.00 
Format Cassette 



Micros CBM 64, BBC B, 
A tari. 

Price £9.99 Format Disk 
Supplier Microdeal, 41 Truro 
Rd, St A us tell, Corn wall. 
HAVING BEEN treated to a 
welter of television advertising 
for this program I looked 
forward to seeing it. 

The simulator comes with a 
14- page flight manual 
containing the mission plan 
and control, instructions for 
your flight. 

The mission is to launch 
yourself successfully into orbit, 
fetch a malfunctioning satellite 
by parking next to it and then 
retrieving the device with your 
remote control arm. 

After the satellite is safely 
stored, close the bay doors, fire 
retros and begin re-entry. Fly 
into a final approach window 
and perform a mock landing 
flare. Then start your final 
approach to the runway 
resulting in a safe landing. 

The program is split into 
three main phases take-off, 
park and re-entry. 

Before take-off the player is 
given the weather conditions 
for the proposed landing site: 
wind strength, direction, cloud 
ceiling and so on. 

The take-off, plus some 
other parts of the simulation, 
are carried out under auto 
control where you may relax 
and look out of the window at 



the disappearing mountains. 

Keyboard or joysticks may 
be used to control the flight 
into orbit and the parking 
alongside the satellite. 

The retrieval of the wayward 
Sputnik is carried out by means 
means of an arm which is 
manoeuvred out of the bay 
until it touches the satellite and 
held in contact until it locks. 

Having retracted the arm 
and stowed everything away, 
the player may activate the re- 
entry sequence and try to 
navigate to the landing strip. 

There are few controls to 
master, and just as few 
instruments in this package. 
The many aircraft simulators 
already available appear to be 
more sophisticated than this 
program. 

The graphics shown through 
the window are white, 
flickering and crude. As this 
program is available for a 
number of micros I can only 
assume that it has been 
restricted by the limitations 
imposed on it by the other 
poorer systems it is designed to 
run on. 

BBC micro users, who are 
used to much better, are not 
liable to be over impressed by 
much in this game. 

Whether it be the childishly 
simple retrieval sequence or the 
blackout phase, where my 
interest also blacked out.AM[> 



Persistence brings rewards 



Adventure Krystals of Zong 
Micro Commodore 64 Price 
£7.95 Format Cassette 
Supplier PSS, 452 Stoney 
Stanton Rd, Coventry. 
THE OBJECT of this game is 
to collect treasures while 
avoiding the various nasties 
that pursue you. 

The game is played within a 
series of nine rooms. These are 
arranged in a three-by-three 
matrix, and are numbered one 
to nine. 

Room five is in the middle of 
the matrix, and it is from here 
that each game begins. 

Each room consists of a 
maze, with a treasure 
compartment at its centre. 
There also are exit doors to the 
immediately adjacent rooms. 

The treasure compartment 
of each room is protected by a 
lock. Scattered throughout the 
rooms are the nine keys that 
unlock the treasure compart- 
ments. The game lists all the 
keys held by the player. 

The keys are colour coded to 




match the border area of the 
room to which each particular 
key applies. For example, 
room one has a purple 
surrounding. To open its 
treasure compartment it is 
necessary to find the purple 
key. 

To prevent you doing this 
there are assorted snakes, bats 
and other nasties which pursue 
and attempt to kill you. 



You are allowed five lives, 
and are provided with a sword 
in each room with which to 
fight off your pursuers. 

There are eight levels of 
play. At' each level one of the 
treasures is a ladder that 
enables you to climb to the 
next level. The speed and 
complexity of the game 
increases as each new level is 
reached. 

As well as building up your 
score, some of the treasures 
help you in your fight with the 
pursuers. 

For example, there are a pair, 
of elven boots that enable you 
to move much faster than your 
pursuers. 

This game borders on the 
addictive. There are excellent 
graphics and the complexity 
varies enough throughout the 
eight levels to appeal to players 
of widely differing abilities. 

My particular version was 
not completely bug-proof, but 
that is my only criticism of an 
otherwise excellent game. RJ 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 25 



The Hobbit. Now the best is 



"After a very short time I found that 'The 

Hobbit' was becoming almost 3 way of life 

rather than a game, and so when I finished it 

for the first time i was partly sad because I 

felt that all the fun and adventure had 

ended, but I was wrong. Even now I am 

discovering new things about the game and 

feel that it will be some time until all of its 

secrets are revealed to me. " . . '.' 

MR. J. STERN, Herts 



have at last received your 'Hobbit' 
program and would like to congratulate you 
on its excellence. After four days of sweat 
and tears I have completed only 37.5 per 
cent of the adventure. The program has lived 
up completely to expectations, and there is 
no doubt about it being the best production 
for the Spectrum to datej^ou have 



surpassed ail others 



program :y\ 



-- 



of 



"A lot of fun. 

COMPUTIj 

"The excellent gra 
The exciting differ 
is that it is possibl 
converse_with all t 
meet and ask their 
recommend this gM 
Tolkien, or novel a| 

POPULAR COMP 

"I am writing toed 
'Hobbit'. I think it is one 
ingenious programs I have h" 
to use. It has kept me stum 
months. I think the effort thfThas 
writing a program like this must have beH 
enormous. TheeffectsarebrillianttosaytP 

JEREMY CHESTER 

)it takes first place m the new 

ty and value for monev.""" 1 

SINCLAIR USER 

ations in the Adventure are 



res. The 
ied plot ' V 
enor toany 
or the 



COMPUTER 

Irfsty Mountains 

'this game is 

tat to play and is No. 1 for 

excitemsnt. " 
GORDON DEMPTSTER, Scotland 

ianks again for an excellent game in 'The 
Hobbit'. I feel I have really got my money's 
worth out of piaving time. Congratulations!" 

MR. P. RUSHTON. Leeds 

"The most powerful computer game yet 
invented." 

COMPUTER WEEKLY 

"Within my circle of friends this game has 
become something of an obsession. We 
meet every Friday night at someone's house 
and spend 3-4 hours on 'The Hobbit'. Friday 
night would not be the same without 'The ■ 
Hobbit'." 

CHRISTINE VERCHILD, Wilts 




"One new Adventure game stands head 
and shoulders above the rest. It alone 
almost provides you with a good enough 
reason to buy a 48K Sinclair Spectrum. Not 
only does The Hobbit produce drawings of 
the main scenes, but it also understands 
proper sentences rather than pairs of words 
for its commands. It comes with a copy of 
J.R.R. Tolkien's classic book of the same 
name, it is the program with the most 
detailed and best written documentation 
ever." 

WHAT MICRO 

"This is an impressively packaged 

Adventure game which makes good use of 

the Spectrum's colour graphics. They have 

not only produced one of the best games for. 

the Spectrum, but given everyone else a 

'esson in good ga^e design." 

RACTICAL COW 



I 



"I am the owner of a copy of The Hobbit' 
which is wonderful entertainment, and very 
challenging. I have other tapes and • 
publications of yours, all of which are 
excellent." 

MR. D.J. BURGH, Kent 

"Having received the most excellent piece of 

programming I have ever seen, we have had 

no social life whatsoever. 'The Hobbit' has 

been dominating our lives since January and 

many nights have been spent until 3 o'clock 

trying to conquer it." 

. SIMON ROGERS, Avon 

"I have recently purchased your exce 
adventure game 'The Hobbit'. This, 
greatly enhanced by the use o; 
graphics, its availability 



na 



of havim 

LytQ 



ri 



\ 



Melbourne House 



available for . » / 



"in my software library, your program The 
Hobbit' takes first piace." 

DAVID MAXWELL, Londoi 




"I am the proud owner of yourexceiier 
program 'The Hobbit' and have a 
many happy, restful, relaxirj 
hours trying to soive 





Id for my ZX 
ou supply called 
excellent 
the money. I find 
ery realistic. The 
ccurate. It sticks 
ebook, which is a 
it very compelling 

EN CASSIDY, Essex 

ing recently purchased a Sinclair 
SpWtrum I decided to buy 'The Hobbit' 
sin* \ have been doing a literature project 
based on 'The Hobbit' with my class of 10 
and 1 1 year old children. Over the last 10 
weeks the children, having read the book, 
have been attempting the program with my 
assistance. Let me congratulate you on a 
most entertaining program." * 

MR. K. REiD ANDCLASS7, 

Nottingham 

". .. -.imore of anexperience than a 
program!":: v 

POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY 

". : . the most unique factor of this program 

is that the user instructs the computer in 

completely ordinary English sentences. The 

Hobbit program is capable of very 

sophisticated communications . . ." 

■ > ' • ZX COMPUTING 

"I purchased 'The Hobbit' not long ago and 
since then I have been engrossed in the 
game, and I'm beginning to think no-one 
wants to talk to me as all ! talk about is my 
adventures in. 'The Hobbit'.''.;': * 

DAVID ROWLEY, Stoke-on-Trent 

"The use of graphics is one of the features 
which makes The Hobbit special. The 1 
addition of graphics as good as these adds a 
whole new dimension to the Adventure. It is 
certainly a marvellous game, which should 
set the standard for future Spectrum 
adventures." " • ' - 

ZX COMPUTING 



a 



a 



44 



ate you on. a 
^ve enjoyed 
enseiy. I must thank you 
ucing such a clever product, it 
as worth every penny of the purchase 
price. 

MRS. J. RYCRAFT, Northampton 



"The Hobbit' is a beautifully con- 
structed, frantically-maddening, 
tortuous, gloriously inconsistent, 
thoroughly spooky adventure — far 
better than I could have hoped for and 
certainly the finest of the dozen or so 
adventure programs I have. In short, I 
congratulate the four who sweated for 
a year and a half." 

MR. PETER JONES, South Glam 

Nothing is certain in this Adven- 
ture, but uncertainty! Add to this the 
brilliant graphics that are used to 
describe many of the locations and we 
have an Adventure that is going to 
become a classic for the Spectrum." 
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY 

...we are not eating food.. .we 
are losing sleep... and it's great! We 
are lost, in the Hobbit program." 

MR. JOHN HARRIS, Kuwait 

The children were immediately en- 
thusiastic about the program (even 
dedicated footballers gave up some 
playtimes to use it!). Many children 
borrowed copies of The Hobbit' from 
the library to read for themselves." 
JUNIOR EDUCATION MAGAZINE 

'The Hobbit' arrived and single- 
handedly set the standard for 
adventure games to come, with its 
sophisticated mixture of advanced 
language analysis and beautifully 
detailed graphics." 

MICRO ADVENTURER 















IVJ 











Orders to: 

Melbourne House Publishers 
131 Trafalgar Road 
Greenwich, London SE10 

Correspondence to: 
Melbourne House 
Church Yard 
Tring 

Hertfordshire HP23 5LU 

All Melbourne House cassette software is 
unconditionally guaranteed against 
malfunction. 

Trade enquiries welcome. 



□ Please send me your free 52 page catalogue. 
Please send me: 



SPECTRUM 

□ Spectrum 'The Hobbit" 48K £14.95 

□ Penetrator 48K £6.95 

□ jerror-Daktil4D48K £6.95 

□ Melbourne Draw 48K £8.95 

□ H.U.R.G. 48K £14.95 

□ Abersoft Forth 48K £14.95 

□ Classic Adventure 48K £14.95 

□ Sherlock Holmes 48K £14.95 

COMMODORE 64 

□ Commodore 64 "The Hobbit" £14.95 

□ Commodore 64 Hungry Horace £5.95 

□ Commodore 64 Horace Goes Skiing £5.95 

DRAGON 32 

□ Dragon 32 Hungry Horace £5.95 

BBC 

□ BBC "The Hobbit" Model B £14.95 

ORIC 1 

□ Oric 1 "The Hobbit" 48K £14.95 

VIC 20 

□ Cosmonauts, Unexpanded VIC 20 £5.95 

□ Wizard & Princess, Unexpanded VIC 20 £5.95 

All versions of "The Hobbit" are 
identical with regard to the 
adventure program. Due to memory 
limitations, BBC cassette version 
does not include graphics. 



Please add 80p for post and pac k £ 
TOTAL £ 



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MA3 




micro 




Battling 
a colour 
problem 

War game Paris in Danger 
Micro A tari 400/800 48K 
Price £28.95 Format Disk 
Supplier Avalon Hill Game 
Company, 650 High Rd, 
North Finchley. 
THE DATE is 1814 and Paris 
is in danger. Napoleon has to 
defend Paris against 
numerically superior Allied 
troops. 

Paris in Danger, from 
Avalon Hill, recreates the 
campaign in detail. This is a 
two-player game, and there are 
the remnants of a fine 
simulation here. Unfor- 
tunately, the game is made 
almost unplayable because 
Avalon Hill have used an Atari 
feature known as artifacting to 
create a map. 

Artifacting allows the Atari 
to display more than one 
colour on its hi-res display 
mode. This works very well on 
American NTSC televisions 
but not on our PAL system. 
What are blues and reds on the 
American standard are just 
funny coloured lines on ours. 

As far as Paris in Danger is 
concerned this makes things 
awkward. The whole game 
hinges around how manv 
towns each army has under its 
control. The towns are 
coloured red and blue, as are 
the various armies concerned. 

Artifacting makes these 
towns indistinguishable from 
each other. A separate record 
has to be kept on a piece of 
paper if you want to keep track 
on who controls what. That 
aside, Paris in Danger is the 
start of a superb system of war 
games on computer (another, 
Waterloo, is soon to follow). 

Paris in Danger combines 
strategic and tactical systems in 
one game. Initially corps-sized 
units are moved around a large 
scale map of France. If a unit 
meets with the enemy the 
players are given the chance to 
move onto a small scale 
tactical map with division- 
sized units or let the computer 
adjudicate the combat. 

The strategic map is 
approximately six screens in 
size. Using a joystick means 
that you can scroll around the 
map quite quickly. 

Each unit is supplied with 



orders for the forthcoming 
week. One move for each day 
plus an extra move for force 
marching. When two opposing 
units meet the computer will 
ask if you want it to resolve the 
combat or if you want to go to 
the tactical map. 

Computer adjudication is a 
lot quicker. Average game time 
using the tactical map display 
can be upwards of five hours. 
Using the computer cuts this to 
around three. 

The small scale tactical map 
displays at random, bridges, 
forests and towns as well as the 
units involved. Each unit can 
be formed up in any of four 
formations. These are line, 
column, mixed and square. 

Each type of formation will 
change the way in which the 
unit fights. For instance, 
fighting in line inflicts 
maximum casualties but is very 
vulnerable to flank and cavalry 
attack. Column gives the 
optimum movement allow- 
ance, but it drastically affects 
the amount of firepower a unit 
can bring to bear. 

The tactical system makes 
playing Paris in Danger almost 
enjoyable, but once again 
Avalon Hill have not taken 
into account the change in TV 
systems. 

The background colour for 
the map is dark grey. On my 
television 1 had to alter all the 
controls to even see the units 
on the map. Once I returned to 
the strategic map they all had 
to be altered back. 

Strategy tips: the French 
player must engage in battle as 
frequently as possible. His 
objective is to obtain 60 points 
by killing 45,000 allied 
soldiers. 

The Allied strategy is to 
avoid battle at all cost and take 
as many of the towns as 
possible. The player should 
never fight at odds of less than 
two to one if he can help it. 

Although numerically 
superior the Allied troops are 
not as well trained or lead as 
the French troops and they will 
take a hammering at odds of 
less than two to one. 

On the tactical map the best 
plan is to form your troops 
into line formation and protect 
the flanks by anchoring the 
formation on woods or rivers. 
Cavalry must be used only 
when an enemy division is in 
trouble and it's morale is low. 
When this happens send in the 
cavalry and try to force a break 
in the line. If you get through 



One man's Medea 
is another's 



Adventure Crypt of Medea 
Micros Apple 11+ , He, III 
Format Disk Supplier Sir- 
Tech, Ogdensburg, New 
York. 

STUDENTS of mythology 
may remember Medea as the 
princess who helped Jason in 
Colchis, but she was a fairly 
nasty piece of work too. Now 
you're stuck in her crypt with 
death awaiting you at every 
turn, and your task is (not 
surprisingly) to escape. 

Crypt of Medea is a hi-res 
adventure game that has 
several tunes and some 
animation in addition to the 
normal graphics and text. 

It's described as "an 
adventure game for the very 
mature and strong of heart", 
probably because the descrip- 
tions of many of the rooms 
refer to blood, dismembered 
bodies, and general gore. It's 
not exactly a video nasty, 
though. If you've ever tried to 
draw realistically on the 
Apple's hi-res screen, you'll 
know why. 

It is a medium-sized game 
with a very linear feel to it. In 
most cases you have to solve 
one puzzle before you can 
proceed to the next, and there 
is not much scope for explor- 
atory roaming. In fact, when 
the game starts you are in a 
room with no visible exits. This 
isn't a problem, though, 
because the manual talks you 
through the first few puzzles to 
illustrate play. 

The manual contains a few 
extras which make this game a 
bit different. For example, a 
list of key words is given so 
that you don't have difficulty 
in being understood. 

Although nouns aren't 
given, even a list of the 
admissable verbs contain hints. 
For example, why should the 
program recognise uncork if 
you don't have to use it? 
Personally, we enjoy having to 
develop a working relationship 
with a game by exploring its 
vocabulary. 

Listed also but preceded by a 
warning of their presence, are 
hints and a list of answers to 
the hints. 

This list of answers uses a 
coding system so that you 
don't see more than the answer 




you want. The inclusion of 
hints and answers is a two- 
edged sword. 

There is a temptation to peek 
when stuck, but doing so 
detracts from the feeling of 
satisfaction that comes from 
solving the puzzle. It's also 
hard not to catch a glimpse of 
the next hint since they are all 
on the same page. 

In play, the game differs 
from the usual format by 
displaying only the graphics 
screen until you type some- 
thing. At this point, a full text 
screen appears, containing the 
description of the room, the 
visible objects and exits, and a 
prompt for your command. 
The Esc key can be used to 
toggle between graphics and 
text, but no mixed mode is 
used. 

Convenience controls allow 
you to stay in text mode, 
switch the sounds off, and also 
produce speech if you have a 
Mockingboard fitted. 
Unfortunately, my SAM board 
isn't equivalent to a Moking- 
board, so I can't comment on 
the nature of the program's 
spoken output. 

Up to nine games can be 
saved on an initialised disk, so 
there's a lot of disk-swapping, 
particularly in the early stages 
where you get killed so often. 

Crypt of Medea is of about 
average size and average 
difficulty. It is an interesting 
change to the wizards-and- 
magic-swords variety of 
adventure game. 

After giving us Wizardry, 
Star Maze and Police Artist, 
Sir-Tech have a difficult task in 
maintaining the high standard, 
and it would seem that they've 
not quite succeeded with this 
one. CM, DM 



28 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



circle around and hit the 
enemy in the rear. 

Apart from the artifacting 
and the poor choice of map 
colour this game remains as 
one of the best computer war 
games I have seen. It does need 
two players though and if the 
two of you can sit through five 
hours of computer punching 
all well and good. 

The game system is excellent 
and I look forward to seeing 
more games of this calibre. 1 
can only hope that Avalon Hill 
will think again about arti- 
facting their map displays and 
include the computer as an 
opponent. 

The game manual, by the 
way, is very good and includes 
a number of pages of historical 
background to get you in the 
mood. RS 

Shelley's 

monster 

returns 

Advenlure Castle 
Frankenstein Micros BBC B, 
Electron Price £7.95 Formal 
Cassette Supplier Epic 
Software, 10 Gladstone St, 
Kibworth, Beauchamp, Leics, 
CASTLE Frankenstein is the 
first in a series of three 
adventures for the BBC from 
Epic Software. They are all 
text -only adventures of the 
classical type. 

The game comes with a 
rather poor cassette-sleeve 
insert . For the seasoned 
adventurer the more florid 
and comprehensive the pack- 
aging the better, since it all 
helps to stimulate the 
imagination and whet the 
appetite for the game proper. 
Instead, all you get is a folded 
card, half of which is an 
advertisement for the other 
two Epic games. m * 

Once the game has loaded 
things do brighten up 
considerably and the writers 
show some ingenuity both in 
t he description of local ions 
and in setting up the inevitable 
puzzles which must be 
overcome. 

You, the player, have been 
chosen to solve the mystery 
of Castle Frankenstein. The 
monster, thought to have 
died in a fire 20 years earlier, 
seems to have been reincar- 
nated and is being held 
responsible for a number of 
unsolved murders in the area. 



There is a vast area to 
explore, with more than 200 
locations: in the castle ruins 
and grounds, with all the usual 
obstacles, tunnels and secret 
psssages, as well as the rather 
more unusual sulphur pits and 
graveyard. You travel 
through all these with the 
object of finding, and 
ultimately destroying, the 
monster. 

I must admit, after several 
hours sweating over the 
keyboard, over many days (a 
SAVE facility is provided) and 
ploughing through reams of 
text, I have not yet succeeded 
in my task. 

As for the mechanics of the 
game: complete sentences are 
understood, although usually 
only the first two or three 
letters are required, and the 
vocabulary is about average 
amounting to 140 words. 
Overall, nice game, shame 
about the packaging, (iW 






I a 1 1 






iiimengtetn 



FOR THE 32K BBC MICRO 



A code of 
chivalry 
maintained 

Advenlure The Quest for the 
Holy Grail Micro BBC B 
Price £8.45 Format Cassette 
Supplier Epic Software, 10 
Gladstone .St, Kibworth 
Beuchamp, Leics. 
WHAT ELSE would Epic 
Soft w are produce but 
adventure games? So one 
would expect that their 
products live up to the 
company name. 

The cassette insert mentions 
'sophisticated compression 
techniques 1 and 'ordinary 
English sentences 1 (for input). 
All three of Epic's adventures 
are in machine code. 

After the title sequence the 
instructions are loaded. From 
these you learn that to become 
a fully-fledged knight of the 
Round Table, King Arthur 
insists that you bring the Holy 
Grail back to Camelot. 

Some of the program's more 
common words are listed. It is 
unusual to see a separate 
instructions program with an 
adventure, but very welcome. 

Following the instructions 
comes the adventure. It opens 
with a brief summary of what 
you are supposed to be doing, 
in case you had forgotten 
during the loading time. 

The first location is the top 
of a hill outside Camelot with a 



view of the surrounding land- 
scape. The description for this 
place is the longest I have 
found, all others being dis- 
appointingly short. 

There are about 230 
locations, but they certainly 
are not 'fully described'. I 
found that there was a feeling 
of not really believing the 
adventure, which partly results 
from this lack of description. 

In early explorations of the 
surroundings t h e most 
common message given is: 
'You cannot go there'. 
Movement is restricted to the 
point of frustration. Once you 
begin map-making, however, 
you can start to concentrate on 
the puzzles (there are plenty). 

Other characters are around, 
guarding objects and, in the 
case of the various knights, 
d r a w irig their swords 
menacingly. 

There seemed to be no 
random aspect in the 
behaviour of the characters, 
presumably due to the strong 
chivalric code of medieval 
times. 

This adventure includes 
some pleasing touches, such as 
the odd humourous line and 
unexpected response. The use 
of colour in Teletext mode is 
something more adventure 
programmers should attempt. 

Response times are 
extremely quick, and there is 
the fastest save to tape of 
position I have seen. Despite 
minor shortcomings this is a 
well thought out and enjoyable 
game. MVV □ 



A witch hits the bottle 



Adventure The Kingdom of 
Klein Micro BBC 32K Price 
£7.95 Format Cassette 
Supplier Epic Software, 10 
Gladstone Street, Kibworth, 
Beauchamp, Leicester. 
THE WICKED Witch has 
stolen the Magic Klein Bottle 
from its pedestal in the palace. 

She swore that she would 
put a hideous curse on 
anybody who was foolish 
enough to try to recover it. 
Your task . . . etc. 

This is a fairly standard text- 
only adventure. The text is 
displayed in coloured lettering, 
yellow for the straw in the 
stables, blue for the lake. 

As I became stuck fairly 
early on in the game I decided 
to cheat — not for my own 
sake you understand, but for 
yours. 



The game writer had 
anticipated this move however, 
and the only text I could find 
was a message telling me I was 
wasting my time trying to 
cheat. 

After much blood, sweat, 
toil and help from the wife I 
managed to cross the lake. The 
far side of the lake is a 
minefield of forest mazes and 
deadly mountain paths, which 
threw me to my doom count- 
less times (too many for my 
liking). 

The game incorporates the 
usual SAVE and LOAD 
options plus full sentence and 
abbreviated word commands. 
There are approximately 230 
locations to explore and the 
game is disk compatible. 

The game is made difficult 
by the many death-dealing 



traps and mazes that appear to 
be inescapable. 

The locations are the 
standard forests, mountain 
caves and palaces populated by 
evil demons, giants and 
witches. So far I have found 
little use for the Bible which I 
can neither open or seek help 
from, although after a few 
hours lost in the forest I 
seriously considered prayer as 
the only way out. 

There appears to be many 
hours of puzzles and 
enjoyment in this game but it 
has few new twists. I did get 
tired of being killed by the 
mindless inhabitants. 

Perhaps fewer rooms and 
more humour would have kept 
me more interested, still it is on 
a par for most adventures of 
this type. AM 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 29 



DURING THE middle 1970's a visiting 
friend from the States introduced me to 
Dungeons and Dragons. It was different 
from anything I had played before and I 
later found out it was the first of a new type 
of game, called role-playing. 

It should be pointed out, since there 
seems to be some confusion, that Dungeons 
and Dragons is a specific game published by 
TSR and not a generic term for role-playing 
games. There are a large number of such 
systems on the market and although D and 
D is the oldest and best known, it is merely 
one of the many available. 

Computer adventure games are an 
attempt to use a machine rather than a 
human as moderator. Although adventures 
are rapidly improving, they still often have 
more in common with crossword puzzles 
than role-playing. 

The first adventures were text only and 
dealt with two word sentences. The latest 
allow more complex sentences, have 
interaction between characters and include 
moving graphics. Although good and 
getting better, they are still a long way from 
the complexity and fun of a group of 
players and a referee. 

The idea of role-playing is to create a 
fictional character using random numbers 
to determine basic human characteristics 
such as a size, strength, intelligence and 
dexterity. This character is then padded out 
with a suitable background and personality, 
given a name and then controlled by the 
player who created him or her. 

Set of rules 

A referee runs the game and plays the 
parts of all non-player characters. The 
referee decides on the success or failure of 
player actions by using die rolls, based on 
that particular character's abilities and 
experience. Characters increase their skills •' 
through experience. 

When you purchase a role-playing game 
you usually get a set of rules which govern 
the generation and control of characters in 
the particular fantasy world the rules 



Get ready to play in 
the role of your life 

Bob Collman traces the development 
of role-playing games 

attempt to simulate. You may also get an 



initial scenario to introduce characters to 
this world. If you then wish to continue 
playing the game the referee will have to 
buy further scenarios or write his own. 

Choosing a role-playing system is 
somewhat like choosing a computer, the 
software (scenarios) may, in the long run, 
cost more than the hardware (rules) and 
scenarios are not much more portable 
between rule systems than programs are 
between computers. It, therefore, pays to 
choose a system carefully. 

I will briefly mention some of the role- 
playing games on the market to give you an 
idea of the variety available. There are 
many more role-playing systems but I will 
cover only the ones with which I have 
experience. 

Dungeons and Dragons (TSR): The 
world of D and D is medieval fantasy with 
powerful magic. The adventures are often 
the detailed exploration of dangerous and 
booby-trapped dungeons, towers or other 
confined areas. Characters must watch their 
every step and be on guard mentally. 

The emphasis of the game is often on 
problem solving. The combat system is 
relatively simple and as a consequence not 
especially realistic or challenging but at 
least does not slow up the game — magic is 
more potent than brute strength anyway. 
Because of D and D popularity there are a 
huge number of available scenarios catering 
for a variety of tastes. 

Runequest (Avalon Hill): characters in 
Runequest inhabit an Iron Age culture, 
reminiscent of an early Mediterranean 



30 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



society. Magic is present but no 
overwhelming and physical skills are very 
important. Combat is detailed, realistic, 
fun and slow, but likely to occur far less 
frequently than D and D. 

Generally, Runequest games tend to 
place more emphasis on personalities and 
human interaction. The rules allow for the 
building of balanced characters and not 
merely stereotypes, such as fighter and 
wizard. There are many excellent 
campaigns and scenarios for this system. 

Traveller (Game Designers Workshop): 
this is currently the most popular science 
fiction role-playing system and makes a bit 
of an attempt to stay within the realm of 
hard science, although this isn't rigidly 
adhered to if bending the laws of physics 
adds to the fun. 

Traveller has an elaborate system of die 
rolls to allow characters to receive 
education and training before being used in 
a game. I have known some people to be so 
enamoured with developing characters for 
this game that they never get around to 
playing it. There are mountains of literature 
pertaining to the system. 

Star Frontiers (TSR): a recent entry into 
science fiction with more emphasis on 
humour than fact. The rules are more 
consistent than Traveller and probably 
more fun, but there are only a few scenarios 
available so far. 

Top Secret (TSR): this is your chance to 
be a spy. Although I like the subject the 
scenarios tend to be more related to 
commando raids than spying and the game 
is let down by the inconsistency of the > 




- f — 1 — 4 




RICHARD SHEPHERD SOFTWARE 

ELM HOUSE, 23-25 ELMSHOTT LANE, CIPPENHAM, SLOUGH, BERKS. 

CREDIT CARD HOTLINE 06286 63531 



1 



ft 




graphic end text adventiw 
for the 48K Spectrum ^ 



RICHARD SHEPHERD 



SOF 



48 




^ ^ 




TRANSYLVANIA 



, j 

A spectacular 3-cPmazejj 
adventure for the ■ 
48K Spectrum and Dragon 32 



RICHARD SHEPHERD 
SOFTWARE 



Invincible Island by peter cooke 

Exhaust your ingenuity in the quest to find The Seven 
Parchments of Xaro and their meaning! Will they lead 
you to undreamt of treasures or eternal doom? 
Explore the mysteries of the stockade and puzzle 
within the Pagoda! A spectacular split screen graphic 
and text adventure to braintease you for weeks! 
Adventurous graphics for every location. Save 
routine. £6.50. 



Transylvanian Tower 

A spine chilling adventure . . . enter via the dungeons 
. . . navigate your way through 500 3-D rooms . . . 
survive the swooping vampire bats . . . reach the 
terrifying top . . . confront and kill Count Kreepie, 
ridding the world of this Transylvanian Terror. 
Can you survive the Top of the Tower? £6.50. 



SELECTED TITLES AVAILABLE FROM 



W.H. SMITH, JOHN MENZIES, BOOTS 

AND ALL LEADING COMPUTER STORES 





ilCHARD SHEPHERD 
SOFTWARE ' 




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SOFTWARE 




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SOFTWARE 





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SOFTWARE 




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SOFTWARE 



NEW DEALERS WELCOME — RING (06286) 6353 1 FOR DETAILS 



All programs are sold subject to the condition that they may not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, hired out, resold or otherwise circulated without the written permission or Richard Shepherd 



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SOFTWAR 



^* * I I ^ | | I B y_ J m ■ 111 ■ 1 I 

TELEPHONE: (0772) 53057 



TEN GRAPHIC ADVENTURES PLUS 
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VENTURE INTO 
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MAGIC TO 
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GOLDEN BATON 



THE BATON HAS THISSEQUALTO 

BEEN TARNISHED PT1 CAN BE 

TRACE & DESTROY PLAYED AS A 

THE SOURCE OF STANDALONE 

THIS EVIL SCENARIO 



WHAT IS THE 
SECRET OF THE 
STRANGE 
MACHINE IN THE 
DESERTED HOUSE 
ON THE MOORS 

■it " v 11 ii *>- 
Virata; 



YOU ARE CHOSEN 
BY A RACE OF 
SUPER INTELLI- 
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SAVE THEIR DYING 
RACE 



nwununNun 




LEFT ALONE ON A 
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WITH ONLY AN 
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MONSTER FOR 
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OUT OF PETROL 
ON A LONELY 
ROAD YOU SEEK 
HELP FROM THE 
NEARBY CIRCUS 
BUT THIS IS NO 
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F YOU CAN 
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KINGS DAUGHTER 
FROM THE EVIL 
WIZARD, FORTUNE 
WILL BE YOURS... 
FAIL AND YOU DIE 



BATTLE WITH 
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A TRAIN JOURNEY 
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<\ rules. There are rules for everything and 
although most of them work, they are 
difficult to remember and slow down the 
game. 

Call of Cthulhu (Chaosium): the most 
difficult thing about this one is 
pronouncing the name (which I believe is 
Cuh-thoo-loo). It takes place in the 1920s 
and the characters become involved in 
investigating mysteries, usually involving 
the occult. 

The rules are excellent and characters 
travel the world slowly (it's 1922) tracking 
down men who are using magic to harness 
alien forces for their own ends. 

Characters must use their wits and 
investigative skills to stop the culprits 
before they become too powerful to 
combat. Player characters can be anything 
the referee allows but a few favourites are 
reporter,, private investigator, university 
professor, dilettante. 

I find it refreshing to play a normal 
person rather than a sword-wielding 
barbarian. Call of Cthulhu is based on the 



writings of H P Lovecraft, who has been 
described as a cross between Edgar Allen 
Poe and Arthur Conan Doyle. There are 
already at least five excellent scenario 
booklets for this system. 

Easy to write 

Once a role-playing system has been 
chosen computers can be of assistance 
before and during the game. Computers 
small enough to share a table with several 
players will likely become increasingly 
important during games. For example, the 
accompanying program contains a die- 
rolling routine that would allow the referee 
to dispense with dice. For those of us with 
large computers, generating new characters 
for a forthcoming game can be quite useful 
— the program also gives a glimpse of the 
ease of writing this type of game. 

You might enjoy writing your own 
assistance programs and they are certainly 
much easier for a beginner than writing an 
adventure. The examples both demonstrate 
the use of a function in BBC BASIC 



(FNroll) to give any die roll called for in a 
role-playing game, including additions or 
subtractions. 

Role-playing games often use a variety of 
dice to generate exactly the odds the 
designer wished to produce. 20- 10-, eight-, 
six- and four-sided dice are commonly 
used. The rules usually refer to the number 
of sides of the dice you are to throw and 
how many. This abbreviated by giving the 
number of dice followed by D (for dice) 
and the number of sides. For example, 
throwing two, six-sided dice (as in craps) 
would be abbreviated as 2D6. 

In many BASICs this would be written 
RND(6) + RND(6). Sometimes, there is an 
addition or subtraction to the dice roll, 
such as 3D8 + 4. In BASIC this would be 
RND(8) + RND(8) + RND(8) + 4. FNroll 
(line 390 in the example) can be added to 
any BBC BASIC program to handle all 
dice rolls. One dice-rolling routine, called 
whenever needed, can save lots of 
duplication, especially for character- 
generator programs. □ 



10 

t<> 
50 

60 
70 
BO 

100 

1 10 
120 
130 
1 40 
IIIO 
160 
1 70 
I 8<"> 



210 

220 
2^0 



■ ses at .i die-rolling t-'UNI. HOh 



- die-rolling routine." 

- Character Generator," 
or 2)?" 



REM Demonstrate* two 
PE.h Bv Boh Uollinan 
MODE 7 

X «RMD < - 1 I ME ) s PEIi < RANDOM I 2 F 
REPEAT 

PfiINTTABtO,10)-i, E» ample one 
PRINTTAB(0„i2) "2. Example two 
PRINT I AB<5, 14) "Your chDicr. (1 

REPEATichoic»-SET-4B»UNULchn.tc*-l OR choice-2 
IFehoice=.l PROCroUroutino ELSE PPOCcreaie 
UNTIL FALSE 

DEF PROCrol 1 routine 
REPEAT : L'LS 

PR I N T TAB (14,,'l" Di re Rout , na" 

INPUT TAB (0»8) "How many 8tH»?"TAB<S3>numb©P 

[NPUTIABC. lO) "How m*ny aides per dl e?"TAB (25 > sides 

S7 M ?S5>^ii2JL b *i P ? ? hat * K,nctlcm can b * Printed as If a variable 
PR1NTTAH(0, 12) "The total 1 bj " ; T OB ( 25) j PNr ol 1 (number . si des 0) 

INPUT FAB(0, 23 >«Pt«ib RETURN to continued 

UWT1I FALSE 

ENDPROC 



24n DEF Pri iCrr §?ate 
250 REPEATa RESTORE 

260 CXBj PRINT IAB( 12.2) "Runequest Dwarf" 
270 FORi ndex » I T07 

280 READcharac;terlBl i t«, di ce, si des. add« 

300 ^J!j| rTflB(3 « indB » +5 >'=haractBri*tic»,TABt20) S FNroll (di ce. si des , add* > 

310 INPIjriAB(0.23» "Preas RETURN to continued 
320 I INT ILFAL.SE 
330 FMI1PROC . 

340 REM Data tor a Runequest dwarf 

330 DATA ^ronnth.4,6,0,Con B titi J tian.2,6,6,Si ; r e .2w>.o.lntelligenne. .', N ".k, W l, 
,3,6,0, De>: ter i ty . 3, 6, O, Char i Btftfl .3.6, 0 
?6<> 

770 REM *X«*****»«Stft«*»ftt*tt*«««*V*tl 

SBO 

390 REM UENERAL DIE-ROLLING ROUTINE 

4O0 DFF FNroll ' number _of _d i ce. number of si dns. od moment e J 
4 K.i tnfalsO 

420 FIJRrol I s~l TfJni'mbnr of, dire 

430 tot a\ "total +RND (number of sides) 

440 NEXT 

4B0 =tot»J «-adiuitment a 




The best books for the 

sunshine Micro Adventurer 





Spectrum Adventures 

A major work by Tony Bridge and 
Roy Cornell which details the growth 
and development of Adventure 
gaming and then presents a full 
graphic Adventure game called 
The Eye of the Star Warrior' 
ISBN: 0 946408 07 6 



Commodore 64 
Adventures 

A blueprint for the construction and 
playing of Adventure programs 
based on a full text Adventure. 
ISBN: 0 946408 11 4 




* A*anAdvenWr g 

Look out for the Sunshine range in W.H. Smith's, 
Boots, John AAenzies, other leading retail chains 
and through our national network of bookshops and 
specialist stores. 

Dealer enquiries: 01-437 4343 



i 
i 
i 
i 
i 
i 



Please send me 

□ Spectrum Adventures • — . Commodore 64 Adventures 
at £5.95 each I I at £5.95 each 



I enclose cheque/postal order for £. 



made 



payable to: Sunshine Books: 12/13 Little Newport St., 
London WC2R 3LD 



Name 
Address 



Signature 



We can normally deliver in 4/5 days. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 33 



'I 




* 



TURES I 





* ■ '-"V 



IMAGI 



N ATI 61 



An adventurous escape 
from 20th Century Suburbia 
with over 90 graphic locations. 




il p 



90 south 
ou arc in 



c u u nation. 



SlHir.9 bV lh 



"OU SC«;- 



iff- 



.v.. 



J L 



ir^H u Your Que$t = To escape from Scarthorpe! 

Scarthorpe is the sort of town where even the dogs carry flick knives! Where there 'sonlv one road in ,nn 

from Scarthorpe! 48k Spectrum £6.50 




RICHARD SHEPHERD 



SOFTWARE 



ELMHOUSE, 23-25 ELMSHOTT LANE, C1PPENHAM, SLOUGH, BERKS. 

A, programs are so* s uDj ect to ,ne cocoon tnat they .a y no, 0y way of rrdde or OI n erw,se. be ,ent. ^ out. ^ n, n ^. ., - ■ ■ 



written permission or Rtchara Shepnerd 




/Am 





The most complete listing available of 
adventures, war games and real-life simulations 
— new entries should be sent to 
Adventure File, Micro Adventurer, 
12-13 Little Newport St, London WC2R 3LD 



COMPANY 



Abacus 

716 LlangyfelecH Rd 

Trcboech 

Swansea 

Abbex 

Tavistock House 

34-36 Bromham Rd 

Bedford 

AbersofI 

7 Maes Afallen 

Bow Si 

Dyfed 

Abrasco 

The Grange Barn 

Pike's End 

East cote 

Middx 

Acornsoft 

4A Market Hill 

Cambridge 



Addictive dames 

Albert House 
Alben Rd 
Bournemouth 
Adventure International 

e/o Calisto Computers 
1 19 John Bright St 
Birmingham 



A&F Software 

830 Hyde Road 
Manchester 



Algray Software 

Ahed House 
Dewsbury Rd 
Ossett 
Wakefield 
Amazing Games 
39 Maple Drive 
Burgess Hill 
West Sussex 
Analog Software 
e/o Mapsoft 
Unit A 

Oak Rd South 
Hadleigh 
Ben fleet 
Essex 

Anirog Computers 

8 The Hiah St 



GAME 


PRICE 


MICRO 


Into the Labyrinth 


£5.99 


Dragon 32, 






Vic 20 | 


Domain 


£4.95 


Sped rum 


Faust's Folly 


£5.95 


Spec! rum 


Adventure 1 


j 

£5.95 


ZX8 1 


Adventure 1 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48 K 


Pirate 


£8.50 


Dragon 32 


Philosopher's Quest 


£9.95 


BBC B 1 


Castle of Riddles 


£9.95 


BBC B 


Sphinx Adventure 


£9.95 


BBC" B 


Countdown to Doom 


£9.95 


BBC B 


Kingdom of Hamil 


£9.95 


BBC B 


Football Manager 


£5.95 


Z.X81 I 


Football Manager 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48k 


Scott Adams 


£16.99 


Atari E: (only the 


Adventures: 


each on 


first two 


Advent ureland, Pirate 


cas- 


adventures are 


Adventure, Mission 


sette, 


on disk) i 


Impossible, Voodoo 


£28.95 




Castle, The Count, 


on disk 




Strange Odyssey, 






Mystery Fun House, 






Pyramid of Doom, 






Ghost Town, Savage 






Island Parts 1 and II, 






Golden Voyage 






Galactic Empire 


£14.95 


Atari E 


Galactic Trader 


£ 14.50 


Atari F. 


Treasure Quest 


£10.95 


Atari E 


Triad 


£25.49 


Atari E 


Curse of Crowlev 


£17.95 


Atari E 


Manor 






Death Satellite 


£6.90 


Atom, Oric 


Zodiac 


£6.90 


Atom, Oric 


Pharaoh's Tomb 


£7.99 


BBC 


Tower of Altos 


£6.90 


BBC | 


Dead wood 


£6.90 


Dragon 32 


Fortress of Evil 


£7.95 


Colour Genie 


Labyrinth of Fear 


£8.95 


Colour Genie 


Double Agent 


£12.95 


Colour Genie 


The Last Jedi 


£4.00 


Spectrum 48K 


Dragon 


£4.00 


Spectrum 48K 


Kane 


£4.00 


Spectrum 48K 



Analog Adventure 



£16.95 Atari E + drives 



Dracula 

Pharaoh's Tomb 



£5.95 
£5.95 



Vic 20 E 
Vic 20 E 



/ COMPANY 



Anirog (eontd) 
Horley Surrey 
Artie 

Main St 
Brandesburton 
Driffield 
Yorks 



Assassin Software 
10 Ash Rd 
Leeds 6 
Atari 

Atari House 
Railway Terrace 
Slough 
Berks 

Audiogenic 

PO Box 88 

Reading 

Berks 

Automata 

27 Highland Rd 

Portsmouth 

Hants 

Avalon Hill 

650 High Rd 
London N12 



Bamb\ Software 

Leverburgh 
Isle of Harris 



Bug-Byte Software 

Mulberry House 



CAME 


PRICE 


■■inn #% 

MICRO 


Zok\s Kingdom 


£5.95 


Vic 20 E 


The Dungeon 


£5.95 


Vic 20 E 


Planet of Death 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K, 




£6.95 


CBM 64 


Inca Curse 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K, 




CA OS" 


CdIVI 04 


Ship of Doom 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K, 




£6.95 


CBM 64 


Espionage Island 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K, 




£6.95 


CBM 64 


Golden Apple 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48 K 


Usurper 


£6.00 


Spectrum 


Krago Castle 


£6.00 


Spectrum 


Energy Czar 


£14.99 


Atari E 


Kingdom 


£14.99 


Atari E 


ET 


£29.99 


Atari 


Tomb of Drcwan 


£12.95 


Vic 20 E 


Boss 


£14.95 


Vic 20 E 


Grand Master 


£17.95 


Vic 20 E, 






CBM 64 


Pimania 


£10.00 


Spectrum 48K, 






ZX8T, BBC B, 






Dragon 32 


Groueho 


£10.00 


Spectrum 48 K 


Bl Bomber 


£11.95 


Atari, TRS80 1 






and III, CBM 64. 






Pet 


Legionnaire 


£25.95 


Atari, Apple II 


VC 


£14.95 


Atari E, Apple 11 




. 


+ drives, TRS80 






1 and II 


Nukewar 


£1 1.95 


Atari, Apple II, 






TRS80 1 and III, 






CBM 64, Pet 


North Atlantic 


£1 1.95 


Atari, Apple II, 


Convoy Raider 




TRS80 I and 111, 






CBM 64 


Midway Campaign 


£11.95 


Atari E, Apple 






II, 1 RS80 1 and 






111, CBM 64, Pet 


Tank lies 


£17.45 


Atari E, Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 






III, Pet 


Dnieper River Line 


£18.95 


Atari F, Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 






III, Pet 


Close Assault 


£21.95 


Atari F, Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 






III 


Paris in Danager 


£25.95 


Atari f drives 


Telengard 


£17.45 


Atari E, Apple II 






+ drives, TRS80 






1 and III, CBM 






64, Pet 


v.'! .ioi ti.rt.ss 


L_ 1 .So 


Atari L. Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 






III 


Empire of Overmind 


£21.95 


Atari E, Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 






III 


Lords of Karma 


£14.95 


Atari E, Apple 






II, TRS80 1 and 


Fredericksburg 


£25.95 


111 

TRS80 1 and III 






+ drives 


Tactical Armour 


£28.95 


Apple II I 


Command 




d rives 


Galax) 


£14.95 


Atari E 


Voyager 1 


£14.95 


Atari E, 






Commodore Pet, 






IBM PC 


Andromeda Conquest 


£13.45 


Atari 


Controller 


£18.95 


Atari 


Planet Miners 


£1 1.96 


Atari E 


Scram 


£19.99 


Atari 


Golden Apples 


£5.95 


Dragon 32 ' 


Planetary Trader 


£5.95 


Dragon 32 


Surprise 


£8.95 


Dragon 32 


Alien Odysse> 


£9.95 


Dragon 32 


Scanner 13 


£8.45 


Dragon 32 


Mystery Manor * 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48 K 


Alone at Sea 


£6.50 


TI99/4A 


NodrugVs Quest 


£8.45 


TI99/4A 


Underground 


£8.45 


T I 99/4 A 


Adventure 






The Castle 


£6.95 


Spectrum, Oric 


Dictator 


£9.00 


ZX8I [> 




March 1984 Micro Adventurer 35 



micro; 




/COHPAMY 



<1 Bug-Byte (Conid) 
Canning Place 
I i\ cm pool 



Buntasofl 

149 Monks Walk 

Buntingford 

Hens 

Carnell Software 

North Weylands 

Industrial Estate 
Moslej Rd 
I lersham 
Surrey 
CCS 

14 Langton Way 
London SE3 



Chalksofl 

37 Willowslea Rd 

Northwick 

Worcester 

Chameleon Software 

c/o Calisto Computers 

1 19 John Bright St 

Birmingham 

Channel 8 

51 lishergate 

Preston 

Lancashire 



Commodore 

675 Ajax Avenue 

Slough 

Berks 



( ompti sense 

2860 Green Lanes 
PO Box 169 

Palmers Green 
London N 1 3 
Computer Rentals 

140 Whiteehapel Rd 
I ondon E I 



Cosmi 

c/o CentreSofI House 
Unit 16 
Bloom Held Rd 

ipton 
West Midlands 
CP Software 
17 Orchard Lane 
Prestwood 
Bucks 

Crystal Computing 

2 Ashton Wa\ 



GAME 


PRICE 


MICRO 


Dragonquesl 


£11.50 


BBC 


Damsel and the Beasi 


£6.50 


ZX81 


Adventure 


£5.95 


ZX8I 


Old Father Time 


£9.50 


BBC B 


Kraal's Kingdom 


£4.95 


Vic 20 E 


Volcanic Dungeon 


£5.00 


ZX81 , Spectrum, 






Dragon 32 


Black Crystal 


£7.50 


ZX8 1 , Spectrum 


Wumpus Adventure 


£5.00 


ZX81 


The Crypt 


£4.95 


Spec! rum 48 K 


Corn Cropper 


£5.00 


ZX8I , Spectrum 


Corn Cropper 


£6.00 


Spectrum 48 K, 






BBC 


Auto Chef 


£6.00 


Spectrum 48 K 


Print Shop 


E6.00 


Spectrum 48K 


Airline 


£6.00 


I aser, Spectrum 






48 K 


Airline 


£6.95 


Oric 


Dallas 


£5.00 


Laser, Spectrum, 






BBC 


Dallas 


£6.95 


Oric 


Camelot 


£5.00 


Spectrum, ZX8I, 






Laser 


Smuggler 


£5.00 


Spectrum, ZX8I, 






Laser 


Plunder 


65.00 


Spectrum, ZX8I, 






1 aser 


British Lou land 


£5.00 


Spectrum, ZX8L 






Laser 


Bvte 


£5.00 


Sped ruin, /X8I, 






I aser 


Gangsters 


£5.00 


Spectrum, ZX8I, 






1 aser 


Abyss 


£5.00 


Spectrum, ZX81, 






Laser 


Inkosi 


£6.95 


BBC, Spectrum, 






Vic 20 


Stone of Sisyphus 


£27.99 


Atari plus drives 



The Golden Baton £9.95 

The Time Machine £9.95 

Arrow of Death 1 £9.95 

Arrow of Death 2 £9.95 

Escape from Pulsar 7 £9.95 

Circus £9,95 

Feasibility Experiment £9.95 

The Wizard Akyr/ £9.95 

Perseus and £9.95 

Andromeda 

Ten Little Indians £9.95 

Adventureland £9.99 

The Count £9.99 

Mission Impossible E9.99 

Pirate Cove £9.99 

Voodoo Castle £9.99 

Strategic Advance £4.99 

High Flyer £14.95 



Atari E, CBM 64 
Atari F, CBM 64 
Atari E, CBM 64 
Atari F t CBM 64 
Atari L, CBM 64 
Atari F, CBM 64 
Atari F, CBM 64 
Atari E, CBM 64 
Atari E, CBM 64 

Atari F, CBM 64 

Vic 20 

Vic 20 

Vic 20 

Vic 20 

Vic 20 

Vic 20 F 

CBM 64 . 

d rives 



Pirates Ahoy 


£7.95 


Dragon 32 


Rescue 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48 K 


Keys of Roth 


£6.95 


Dragon 32 


Stargazed s Secrets 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Woods of Winter 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


The Incredible 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Ad venture 






Forbidden Forest 


£9.95 


CBM 64 



Colossal Caves 
Golfing World 



Dungeon Master 
Halls of the Things 



£6.95 Spectrum 48K 
£5.95 Spectrum 48K 



£7.50 Spectrum 48K 
£7.50 Spectrum 48 K 



East Herrington 
Sunderland 
Crystal Computing 

c/o Soft Machine 
Station Crescent 
Blackheath 
London 
Datasofl 

c/o CenireSoft House 
Bloom field Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 
Digital Fantasia 

24 Norbreck Rd- 
Blackpool 
1 ancs 



DK Trunk's 

Unit 6 
Shire Hill 
Industrial Estate 
Saffron Walden 
Essex 

Doric Computer Services Oracles Cave 

3 The Oasis 

Glenfield 

Leicester LE3 8Q5 
Dragon Data 

Kenfig Industrial 

Estate 
Margam 
PI Talbot 
Wesl ( ilamorgan 



GAME 


PRICE 


MICRO 


) 

Merchant of Venus 


£5.50 


ZX81 


The Island 


£7.50 


ZX8I 


Invasion of the Body 


£7.50 




Snatchers 






O'RilcVs Mine 


£21.95 


Atari 


The Wizard of Akyr/ 


£9.95 


BBC B, 






Spectrum 48K 


Perseus and 


£9.95 


BBC B, 


Andromeda 




Spectrum 48 K 


Ten Little Indians 


£9.95 


BBC B, 






Spectrum 48 K 


Arrow of Death 1 


£9.95 


BBC, Spectrum 






48K 


Arrow of Death 2 


£9.95 


BBC, Spectrum 






48K 


The Golden Baton 


£9.95 


BBC, Spectrum 






48 K 


Time Machine 


£9.95 


BBC, Spectrum 






48 K 


Circle 


£9.95 


BBC B, 






Spectrum 48K 


f easibility Experiment 


£9.95 


BBC B, 






Spectrum 48K 


Escape from Pulsar 7 


£9.95 


BBC B, 






Spectrum 48K 


Dictator 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Dictator 


£6.95 


BBC B 



£7.95 Spectrum 48K 



Dungeon Software 

Milton House 
St John St 
Ashbourne 
Derbyshire 

Educational Software 

c/o Mapsofi 
Unit A 

Oak Rd South 
Hadleigh 
Ben licet 

Fssex 

Eighth Day Software 

18 Flaxhill 

Moreton 

Wirral 

Merseyside 

English Software 

c/o GentreSoft House 

Unit 16 

Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 

Epic Software 

10 Gladstone St 

Kibworth 

Beauchamp 

Leicester 

Epyx 

c/o CenireSoft House 
Unit 16 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

W'esl Midlands 



Calisto Island 
Dragon Mountain 
Madness and the 

Minotaur 
Quest 

Black Sanctum 
El Diablero 
Mansion of Doom 
Poseidon Adventure 
Final Countdown 
Stalag/Eno 

The Crystal Chalice of 

Quorum 
The Temple of Zoren 
Treasure Lorn be 
Giant's Castle 
The Adventures of 

Proto 



£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£5.95 Dragon 32 

£17.95 Atari + drives 



Dark Lore 



£6.95 Spectrum 48K 



Escape from Perilous £14.95 Atari 



Castle Frankenstein 
The Quest for the 

Holy Grail 
The Kingdom of Klein 

Temple of Apshai 
Upper Reaches of * 

Apshai 
Curse of Ra 
Crush Crumble Chomp 
Gateway to Apshai 

Sword of Fargoal 



£7.95 BBC B, Electron 

£7.95 BBC B, Electron 

£7.95 BBC B, Electron 

£27.95 CBM 64, Atari 

£15.95 CBM 64, Atari 

£15.95 CBM 64, Atari 

£21.95 CBM 64, Atari 

£27.95 CBM 64, 
TI99/4A 

£21.95 CBM 64 > 



36 Micro Adventurer March 1984 




Apple 



48K Spectrum 

You must set out on a quest to find the 
'Golden Apple'. On your journey you 
will pass through mansions, travel 
overseas and onto an island, hunting 
your treasure. 



ZXspe 
2X«lAdveii 

All these games are instant-response machine 
code programs. Adventures B, C and D include 
cassette save routines. 



mputing Ltd. 

Street, Brandesburton, 
ield Y025 8RG. 
l% Discount for 2 and 1 5% for 3 
Jfiore. 

heques and P.O.'s made 
payable to Artie Computing Ltd. 
Dealer enquiries welcome. 
Please state whether your order is 
forZX81 or SPECTRUM. 
Access and Barclaycard 
welcome. 

I Send SAE. (9 in x 6 in) for FREE 
catalogue of our wide range 
of programs 



ADVENTURES A, B, 



AWQTHER GREAT 
^ADVFfUTURE 
GAME FOR 
THB^6K 
ZXSI^ 



AIL ABLE FOR COMMODORE 64 



GAME F0H 
THE 4dK 
SPECTRUM 



J* 



16/48K ZX/Spectrum 
16KZX81 

You find yourself 
stranded on a strange 
alien planet. Your aim 
is to escape by finding 
your captured space 
craft. But beware of the 
little green man who 
may get to you! 



*9> 



48K Spectrum 
16KZX81 

You are in the middle of 
a South American 
jungle when you 
stumble across a 
strange Inca temple. 
Enter it to collect 
treasure and then try to 
return. But beware 
don't let greed be your 
downfall. 



c 



WARNING: These programs are sold according to ARTIC COMPUTING 
LTD s terms of trade and conditions of sale. Copies of which 
are availabe on request. 



48K Spectrum 

16KZX81 

While on a 
reconnaisance 
mission you are drawn 
to an alien cruiser on a 
humanoid slave 
mission. Try to escape 
from aggressive 
aliens, luscious 
androids and drunken 

barmen. Your only help 
is Fred the friendly 
android. 




i I 1 , 
i 1 




Access 



ARTIC COMPUTING LTD. 

Main Street. Brandesburton 
Driffield Y025 8RG. 



RTIC 



48K Spectrum 
16KZX81 

You have to survive an 
engine failure while 
flying over an apparently 
uninhabitated island in 
the South Atlantic. Use 
your wits to harass the 
enemy, but treat the 
beautiful native women 
with respect, to escape 
from the island and 
return to an allies 
aircraft carrier. 



Please rush me: 

•Adventure aDbDcDdDeD 
*formyZX81 £5.95 /SPECTRUM £6.95 

I enclose a cheque for £ 



or debit my Barclaycard/Access account 



NAME 



ADDRESS 



I 

I 



I , Tick, delete or complete as applicable 



Doric Computer Services 



Present 




AN AMAZING NEW 
ADVENTURE GAME 
WITH ANIMATED 
GRAPHICS 
FEATURING:- 

• A completely new cave layout, 
monster position and event 
sequence generated for every 
game. 

• A time limit of 5 'days' on 
every adventure. 




"The closest yet to a true 
animated graphic adventure... 
...excellent value for money." 
POPULAR COMPUTING WEEKLY. 




FOR THE 

48K SPECTR 



'Superbjaigh resolution with smooth scrolling . . . with the nights drawing in 
-am should give you plenty to think about' Micro Adventure Dec 83 
^hics are smooth, startling and exciting. They show the way for the 
development of the graphics adventure in the next year' Sinclair User Annual 
'Each quest is selected by you at the beginning of the game and you will have fi 
game days in which to complete it. The time factor is exceptional in adventure 
games' Sinclair User Dec 83 



this prc> 




>o 





<J R pyx 

c/o Mapsofi 
Unit A 

Oak Rd South 
Hadleigh 
Ben fleet 
Essex 



Kxodus 

Penrice Drive 

Tividale 

Warley 

West Midlands 
FBC Systems Lid 
10 Castlefields 
Main Centre 
Derby 

Felix Software 

19 Leighton Ave 

Pinner 

Middlesex 

Cebelii 

e/o Mapsoft 

Oak Rd South 

Hadleigh 

Benfleet 

Essex 

Gemtime 

16 Ben Ledi Rd 

Kirkcaldy 

Gilsofi 

30 Hawthorn Rd 
Barry 

South Glamorgan 

Wales 

Ciolem 

77 Qualitas 

Bracknell 

Berks 

Hewson Consultants 

60A St Mary's St 

Wallingford 

Oxon 

Impact Software 

70 Redford Avenue 
Edinburgh 



Incentive Software Ltd 

54 London St 
Reading 

Infocom 

c/o Softsel 
Central Way 
Feltham 
Middx 

Infocom 

c/o CentreSoft House 
Unit 16 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 

Intrigue Software 

Cranbrook Rd 

Tenterden 

Kent 



JRS Software 

19 Wayside Ave 

Worthing 

Sussex 



GAME 


PRICE 


MOO 


L^aiestones ot Kyn 


113.80 


Atari E, Vic 20 


invasion unon 


117.25 


Atari E, Vic 20 


Parana 'if Dinul 

txescue at Kigei 


120.75 


Atari E 


oidr warrior 


127.45 


Atari E 


v,rusn, ^rumoie ana 


120.75 


Atari E 


v,nomp 






iempie ot Apsnai 1 


127. 4} 


Atari E 


upper Keacnes ol 


113.80 


Atari E 


Apsnai z 






^.urse oi Ka j 


113.80 


Atari E 


\_iypi ui me unoeau 


120.75 


Atari E + drives 




120.75 


Atari E + drives 


FvniP Arlhnr'c Hf»ir 
■xuig r-vimui a ricii 


.LZU. / J 


Atari h 


The Niehlmarp 




/\ian t: + anves 


Hellfire Warrior 


£27.45 


Atari E 


Danger in Drindisti 2 


£13.80 


Atari E 


The Keys of Acheron 3 


£13.80 


Atari E 


Monster Maze 


£27.45 


Atari E, Vic 20 


Escape Vulcan's Isle 


£20.75 


Atari E + drives 


Pyramid 


£4.95 


Dragon 32 


Espionage 


£4.95 


Dragon 32 



Star Trader £7.99 

Star-Force Lander £6.95 

Valley of the Pharoahs £7.99 

Space Adventure One £7.99 

Tomb of Dracula £4.95 

Tomb of Dracula £3.95 



BBC B, Electron 
BBC B 

BBC B, Electron 
BBC B, Electron 
Spectrum 48K 
ZX81 



3 



Dr Goodcode's Tavern £21.95 Atari E + drives 



Murder at the Manor 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Tasks/Time-line 


£4.95 


Spectrum 


Magic Castle 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Diamond Trail 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48K 


The Quill 


£14.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Katakombs 


£8.00 


BBC B 


Heathrow: ATC 


£7.95 


Spectrum 


Nightflite 


£5.95 


Spectrum 


Dragonfly 


£6.95 


Dragon 32 


Quest Adventure 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Orb 


£5.00 


Dragon 32, 






Vic 20 E, 






Spectrum 48K 


The Quest 


£5.00 


Dragon 32, 






Spectrum 48K 


3D Maze 


£5.00 


Dragon 32, 






Spectrum 48 K 


Mountains of Ket 


£5.50 


Spectrum 48K 


1984 


£5.50 


Spectrum 48K, 






BBC B 


Zork 1, 11 and III 


£28.75 


Apple, Atari, 




each 


CBM 64, 






IBM PC, TI 






Professional, 






CP/M systems 






(all plus drives) 


Deadline 


£37.95 


Atari E + drives 


Starcross 


£37.95 


Atari + drives 


Suspended 


£37.95 


Atari E + drives 


Witness 


£37.95 


Atari E + drives 


Planet fall 




Atari E 


Castle Colditz 




Spectrum 48K 


Adventuremania 


£5.95 


TI-99/4A, 


Mania 




Spectrum 48K 


£5.95 


TI-99/4A, 






Spectrum 48K 


Santa & the Goblins 


£5.95 


TI-99/4A 


Transylvania 


£5.95 


TI-99/4A 


Corridors of Time 


£5.95 


TI-99/4A, 






Spectrum 48K 


Lost Island 


£3.95 


ZX81 


Battleships 


£3.95 


ZX81 



OBI 

V Software 

c/o Mapsoft 
Unit A 

Oak Rd South 

Hadleigh 

Benfleet 

Essex 

Kenema Associates 

I Marlborough Drive 

Worle 

Avon 

Kew Enterprises 

14 Fairway Ave 

Manchester 

Lantern Software 

4 Haffenden Rd 

Tenterden 

Kent 

Legend 

1 Milton Rd 

Cambridge 

Level 9 Computing 

229 Hughenden Road 

High Wycombe 

Bucks 



GAME 



PRICE MICRO 



MC Lothlorien 

4 Granby Rd 
Cheadle Hulme 
Cheadle 
Cheshire 



Martech Games 
9 Dillingburgh Rd 
Eastbourne 
Sussex 



Martech 

c/o Soft Machine 
Station Crescent 
Blackheaih 
London 

Melbourne House 

131 Trafalgar Rd 
London SEI0 



Microdeal 

41 Truro Rd 
St Austell 
Cornwall 



Mikro-Gen 

24 Agar Crescent 

Bracknell 

Berks 



Journey to the Planets £20.45 Atari E 
Green Ring £7.00 Spectrum 



HelFs Temple 


£12 00 

S— 1 ■ \l\J 


Oric 48k' 


Secret Mission 


£5 00 


Vir ?0 F 


Troll King 


£5 95 


TI 99/4a 

117 71 ta 


The Black Tower 


£5 95 


TI 99/4a 

i i 77/ ta 


Valhalla 


£ 14 95 


opcLU Li 1 1 1 46l\ 


v.oiossai /\uventure 


£9.90 


CBM 64, Atari, 






One, Lynx, 






BBC, Spectrum, 






Nascom 


Advent lire* OiipqI 

nu vliu Ul WUC31 


fQ on 


l bivi o4, Atari, 






One, Lynx, 






BBC, Spectrum, 






Nascom 


Diinppnn AHv/pni nrp 


r q on 


/''UN/I nA A* n _: 

CdM 64, Atari, 






Uric, 1-ynK, 






BBC, Spectrum, 






Nascom 


Snnwha II 

0 1 1 \J W 1 till 




CBM 64, Atari, 






One, Lynx, 






BBC, Spectrum 








•»3 m 1 1 rs* i X\f 'i rri/"\r 
oaiiiui ill vv al 1 IUI 


14. 


7VOI 


Siimitr3i W'iirrinr 


1.0.7 J 


Uragon Jz 


Pelononnp^ian War 




7VO 1 

/-Aol 


lohnnv Rph 


Lj. jU 


Spectrum 48K 


Pn vatppr 


J.H.JU 


7VQ 1 o w • - 

ZAol, Spectrum 






4oK 


ndrds 


£o.95 


BBC B 


Roman Frtinirp 




"7 V O 1 


Roman Fmnire 


JLU. 7 J 


DDL D, 






uragon .iz 


Wiimnn Fmnirp 


L 1 Z. jU 


Atari h 


Tvrant of Athene 


f 4 50 


MO 1 


Tyrant of Athens 


f n 95 


i-'iagon JZ 


Warlord 

* * til 1 \.f 1 u 


f5 SO 


opectrum 4oK 


Warlord 

» • Ul IV' 1 V4 




r\ r ',„ ,iol" 
Or ic 4oK, 






Dragon 32 


Warlord 


£4.50 


ZX81 


Roman Fmnirp 


tj.JXJ 


Spectrum 48k 


Bedlam 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Confrontation 


£7.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Dreadnaushts 




opecuum *4oN 


Red Baron 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Battle Zone 2000 


£6.95 


BBC 


Galaxy Conflict 


£11.95 


ZX81 , Spectrum 


Galaxy Conflict 


£14.75 


BBC B, Dragon 






32, CBM 64, 






Atari E 


Conflict 


£11.95 


ZX81, Spectrum 


Con flicl 


£14.75 


BBC B, Dragon 






32, CBM 64, 






Atari E 


Quest of Merravid 


£7.95 


CBM 64, Vic 20 


The Hobbit 


£14.95 


Spectrum 48K, 



The Wizard and the £5.95 

Princess 

Phantom Slayer £8.00 

Mansion Adventure I £8.00 

Space Monopoly £8.00 

Keys of the Wizard £8.00 

Jerusalem Adventure £8.00 

Williamsburg Boulevard £8.00 

Ultimate Adventure £8.00 

Escape £8.00 

Sorcerer's Castle £5.50 

Mad Martha £5.50 

Mines of Saturn/ £5.95 

Return to Earth 



CBM 64, BBC, 

Oric 

Vic 20 

Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Spectrum 
Spectrum 
Spectrum 



> 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 39 



SCR ADVENTURES 



present 

CASTLE BLACKSTAR 

A medieval fantasy for the Spectrum 48K. 
The first of the ARTEMIS quests. 

SCR Adventures has been set up to supply high quality adven- 
ture programs to the personal computer market. Written by 
dedicated adventure players they aim to provide a real challenge 
to the expert whilst still rewarding the efforts of the novice 



CASTLE BLACKSTAR FEATURES 

-fast machine code based program 
-save game and restart facilities 
-large vocabulary 
-over 200 seperate locations 
-sophisticated data compression to make full use of 
the Spectrum memory 

-full of tricks, traps and puzzles 

WILL YOU BE ABLE TO 

-steal from the witch?' 
-cross the lake? 

-leave the chapel alive? 
-fly? 

PERHAPS YOU MAY LIVE TO ATTAIN YOUR GOAL 



YOU WILL NOT BE DISAPPOINTED BY THE ARTEMIS 
QUESTS 



DEALER ENQUIRIES 
WELCOME! 



CASTLE BLACKSTAR 

Please send me copies of Castle 

Blackstar at £8.95 each 

Make cheques/P.O's payable to 
SCR Adventures. 



NAME.... 
ADDRESS 




Send this coupon to: - 
Dept MA3, 
SCR Adventures, 
190, Shelbourne Rd., 
Tottenham, 
London, N1 7 9YB. 



rite your own machine coi 

Without any knowledge of machine code whatsoever 




THE QUILL is a major new utility written in machine code which allows even the 
novice programmer to produce high-speed machine code adventures of superior 
quality to many available at the moment without any knowledge of machine code 
whatsoever. 

Using a menu selection system you may create well over aoo locations, describe 
them and connect routes between them. You may then fill them with objects and 
problems of your choice. Having tested your adventure you may alter and experi- 
ment with any section with the greatest of case . A part formed adventure may be 
saved to tape for later completion. When you have done soTHE QUILL will allow 
you to produce a copy of your adventure which will run independently of the main 
QUILL editor, so that you may give copies away to your friends. 
THE QUILL is provided with a detailed tutorial manual which 



FOR THE 48K SPECTRUM AT £14.95 



Our Software is now available from many computer shops 
nationwide, or direct from us by post or telephone. 

SA E for full details of our range. 



Dealer enquires welcome. 



covers every aspect 



of 



its use in writing adventures. It is impossible to describe all the features of this 
amaiing program in such a small space so we have produced a demonstration cassette 
which gives further information and an example of its use. 
This demo-cassette is available at £2.00. and THE QUILL itself at £14.95. 



GILSOFT 

30 Hawthorn Road 
Barry 

South Glamorgan 
CF6 8LE 

®(0222) 41361 x 430 



TELEPHONE YOUR ORDER 

WITH 




40 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



micron 






GAME 


PRICE 


MICRO 


<] M olimerx 


Mysterious Adventures: 


£10 06 


TRS80 I and III 

■ 1 " 1 til 1 VJ III, 


1 Buckhurst Rd 


Golden Baton, Time 


each 


Video Cipnit 1 1 


Town Hall Square 


Machine, Arrow of 




and Colour 


Bexhill-on-Sea 


Death Parts I and 11, 




Genie, BBC B 


East Sussex 


Escape from Pulsar 7, 






Circus, Feasibility 








Experiment, Wizard of 








Akyrz, Perseus and 








Andromeda, Ten Little 








Indians 








Epic Hero: Ocean 


£10.06 


TRS80 I and III, 




Hunt, Dungeon of 


each 


Video Genie I 




Derojhen, Venus Must 




and II 




Live 








Battle of Britain 


£15.53 


TRS80 I and III, 








Video Genie 1 








and II 




Concorde 


£17.25 


TRS80 I and III, 








Video Genie I 








and 11 




Everest Explorer 


£10.06 


TRS80 I and III, 








Video Genie I 








and II 




Temple of Bast 


£10.06 


TRS80 1 and III 








Video Genie 1 








and II 

Ct I 1 \J 11 




Wumpus 


£6.32 


TRS80 I and III 

I I » 1 C11IU 111) 








Video Genie I 








and II 

it II U 11 


Mr Micro 


Dracitla 




uric n 


69 Partington Lane 


Mvsterious Island 


f 9 00 


Vir ?0 F 
V 1L C 


Swinton 


Gold Rush 


£6.90 


Vic 20 


Manchester 








Muse Software 


Castle Wolfenstein 


£21.55 


Annie Atari 


c/o Softsell 






(both nlus drivp^l 


Central Way 






Feltham 








Middx 








Newsoft 


Black Dwarfs Lair 


£4 95 


Snpel n i m 

■ J | •- 11 villi 


12 Whitebroom Rd 


Time Bandits 


£4 95 


Snppf rum 

nJJ^V-W 11 HI 1 1 


Warners End 


Secret Vallev 


f4 95 


Snpcl ri i m 


Hemel Hempstead 


Great Western 


£4.95 


Sneetrum 

k/l/vvll LI 111 


Herts 


Spectral Maze 


£4 95 


Spectrum 


OIC Lid 


Dodev Dealer 


£6 50 


RRf D 

L)Dv- D 


15 Burghead Close 


Counter Attack 


£6 50 


BBC R Flertrnn 


College Town 






Camberley 








Surrey 








On-Line Syslems 


Mission: Asteroid 


£17.19 


Atari F + rlrivp^ 


c/o Mapsoft 


Wizard and the 


£21.79 


Atari E + drives 


Unit A 


Princess 




Oak Rd South 


Ulysses and the 


£20.64 


Atari E + drives 


Hadleigh 


Golden Fleece 






Ben fleet 








Essex 








Peaksoft 


Death's Head Hole 


£5.45 


Dragon 32, BBC 


7 Hawthorn Crescent 






B Snectrum 48K 


Burton-on-Trent 


Don't Panic 


£5 45 


Drapon 


Derbyshire 


Lionheart 


£5 45 


1/1 CltVjII JL 




Champions' 

■ ■ Ul 1 i I ■ 1 X_/ 11.', 


f6 Q5 

K\J. yj 


llronAn J 1 

L/ragon jz, 








RDf D 
DDL D, 








^npi'friim _I^k 

OJitV,ll lllll HOfx, 
















Electron 


Penguin 


Spy's Demise 


£15.95 


Atari 


c/o CentreSoft House, 


The Spy Strikes Back 


£15.95 


Atari 


Unit 16 








Bloomfield Rd 








Tipton 








West Midlands 








Phipps Associates 


Knight's Quest 


£4.95 


Soectrum 7X81 


99 East St 


Greedy Gulch 


£4.95 


ZX81 


Epsom 


Maeic Mountain 


£4 95 


Snerl mm 

■ ' | 'L. i_ l I LI I 1 I 


Surrey 

•* 


Advent lire 


f 5 00 






Novotnick Puzzle 


£5 00 


7X81 




Gorgon 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48K 




Black Planet 


£5.95 


Spectrum 48K 




The Forest 


£9.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Pixel Games 


Trader 


£9.95 


7X81 Sneetrum 


c/o Quicksilva 




£14.95 


Vic 20 


92 Northam Rd 








Southampton 








Portent Adventures 


Robin Hood 


£5.95 


Dragon 32 




Lost lower ot Tintagel 


£6.96 


Dragon 32 


Premier 


Adventure Plus 


£7.95 


Dragon 32 


208 Croydon Road 


House of Horrors 


£4.95 


Dragon 32 


London SE20 


Caverns of Doom 


£4.95 


Dragon 32 




Dungeons of Death 


£6.95 


Dragon 32 




Dragon Power 


£7.95 


Dragon 32 




Plant 


£5.95 


Dragon 32 y 



COMPANY 



GAME 



PRICE MICRO 



Program Power 

8/8A Regent St 
Chapel Allerton 
Leeds 



Protek 

c/o Soft Machine 
Station Crescent 
Blackheath 
London 
Psion 

2 Huntsworth Mews 
Gloucester Place 
London NW1 
Quality Software 
c/o CentreSoft House 
Unit 16 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 
Quicksilva 

Palmerston Park House 
13 Palmerston Rd 
Southampton 
Hampshire 



Oil Recovery 



Adventure 
Eldorado Gold 
Labyrinths of La 

Coshe 
Seek 

Adventure 
Caveman Adventure 
Airliner 



£5.95 



£7.95 
£6.95 
£7.95 

£6.95 
£6.95 
£6.95 
£9.95 



Dragon 32, 
Video Genie, 
TRS80 I and III 
BBC 
BBC B 
BBC B 

BBC 
BBC 
BBC 

Spectrum 48K 



Flight Simulation 



£7.95 Spectrum 48K 



Ali Baba 



£24.95 Atari E + drives 



Red Shift 

I2C Manor Road 
London N16 



Red Shift 

c/o Soft Machine 
Station Crescent 
Blackheath 
London 

Richard Shepherd 
Software 

Elm House 

23-25 Elmshott Lane 

Cippenham 

Slough 

Berks 



Trader 


£9.95 


7X81, Spectrum 


Trader 


£14.95 


Vic 20 


Pioneer Trail 


£3.95 


7X81 


Ocean Trader 


£3.95 


7X81 


Smuggler's Cove 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Velnor's Lair 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Xadom 


£6.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Ring of Power 


£9.95 


CBM 64 


Apocalypse 


£9.95 


Spectrum 48K, 






BBC B 


Apocalypse Expansion: 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Maps 






Apocalypse Expansion: 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48k 


Ancient Scenarios 






Apocalypse Expansion: 


£4.95 


Spectrum 48K 


Modern Scenarios 






Apocalypse 


£9.95 


BBC 



Rocklan 

c/o CentreSoft House 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 
Romik Software 

272 Argyll Ave 

Slough 

Berks 



Super Spy 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K, 






CMB 64, 






Dragon 32 


Transylvanian Tower 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K, 






CBM 64, 






Dragon 32 


Everest Ascent 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K, 






CMB 64 


Ship of the Line 


£4.95 


Spectrum 


Ship of the Line 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K, 






CBM 64 


Invincible Island 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K 


Devils of the Deep 


£6.50 


Spectrum 48K 


Wizard of Wor 


£29.95 


Atari E + drives 



Salamander 

17 Norfolk Rd 
Brighton 

Sussex 



Saturn Software 

Sycamores 

Somersham 

Cambs 



Tombs of Xeiops £6.99 

Fool's Gold £6.99 

The Golden Apples of £4.99 
7eus 

Animal Magic £5.99 

Zorgon's Kingdom £6.99 

3D Monster Chase £6.99 

3D Monster Craze £9.99 

White Crystal £6.99 

Strategic Command £6.99 

Sub £5.99 

Franklin's Tomb £9.95 

Wizard War £7.95 

Lost in Space £9.95 

Everest £7.95 

Night Flight £7.95 

737 Flight Simulator £9.95 

Fishy Business £9.95 

Golf * £7.95 

Tanks £7.95 

Tomb of Tuthmosis £5.50 

Wax Works £5.50 

Volcano Island £7.00 



CBM 64 
CBM 64 
Vic 20, 8, 16K 

Vic 20, 16K 
Vic 20, 8, 16K 
Spectrum 16, 48K 
Lynx 

Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Spectrum 16, 48K 
Dragon 32, Oric 
48K, BBC B 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
BBC B 
Dragon, Oric. 
BBC 

Dragon 32 
BBC 

Dragon 32 
Dragon 32 
BBC B 

> 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 41 




New from SUNSHINE 

Master your ZX 
Microdrive 

programs, machine code and 
networking by Andrew Pennell 

Master your ZX Microdrive contains all 
the information you will ever need to use 
the ZX Microdrive to the full. Clearly 
explained, with many examples, it is 

equally suitable for the relative newcomer _ 
to BASIC through to the experienced 

machine code programmer. ISBN 0 946408 19 X 

Andrew Pennell has also included a full database file handling 
program to let you put the ZX Microdrive to practical use 
with your Sinclair Spectrum. 

Look out for the Sunshine range in W.H. Smith's, Boots, John Menzies, 
other leading retail chains and through our national network of book 
shops and specialist stores. Dealer Enquiries: 01-437 4343 




Please send me 

[ I Master your ZX Microdrive at £6.95 each 
I enclose cheque/ postal order for £ 



made payable 



to: Sunshine Books: 12/13 Little Newport St. F London WC2 3LD. 
Or 'phone your order through on Access Mastercard 01 -437 4343 

Name 

Address ' 



Signature 



We can normally deliver in 4/5 days 



JS. Hurler at tip Utanar 

Death comes to a quiet country village when the Lord of the Manor is savagely 
murdered. 

The police are baffled with no obvious clues to help them. 

Your skills as an ace investigator are required to identify and apprehend the 
murderer. This will involve searching for clues (which could be dangerous requiring 
ingenious deductions), examining the scene of the crime and asking questions of the 
right people. 

What is the mystery of the Gravediggers Hut? 

What secret does the safe hold? 

What lurks at the bottom of the brook? 

These may be some of the questions you will ask yourself during your investigation 
into the murder at the manor. 

The game is based on a fixed map, comprising the Manor House, the Gaden, the 
Town, the Graveyard and many other fully described locations, inhabited by a variety of 
individual characters whom you are likely to meet. 

It is up to you to solve the murder, the locals may know the answer — but will 
they tell YOU! 

"The unique thing about Murder at the Manor is that each time you play a different 
character is chosen. Thus each game is different." Micro Adventurer. JAN 84. 

WARNING — this Is a 4D adventure where night brings added difficulties. 

"Highly recommended.' (Popular Computing Weekly. Vol 2 No 42). 

Cassette and instruction Booklet 

costs £6.95 inc. 
TRADE ENQUIRIES WELCOME 

GEMTIME, 16 Ben Ledi Road, Kirkcaldy, Fife. 






off to i 




Creating 



Create and solve ADVENTURE 
programs on your Spectrum, 
Commodore 64, Dragon, Oric or 
BBC Micro. 



1 




CREATING ADVENTURES ON 
YOUR ZX SPECTRUM - 

Peter Shaw and James Mortleman. 
Create and solve Adventure 
programs on the Spectrum with 
this exciting new book which 
includes five complete major 
programs, plus chapter after 
chapter of hints and tips to help you 
write your own programs. Chapter 
headings include Creating Locations; Picking Things Up 
Monsters; Adding Graphics; and Adding to the 
Vocabulary. Just £4.95 and you're up and away. 

CREATING ADVENTURE PROGRAMS ON YOUR 
COMPUTER — Andrew Nelson. If your computer uses 
a version of Microsoft BASIC, then this book is for you. 
It contains three complete Adventure programs, along 
with extensive documentation to help you create and 
solve Adventures. Suitable for use with the Commodore 
64, Dragon, Oric, BBC Micro, Sinus, IBM PC and 



Apple, you'll find this book an 
easy - to - understand 
primer on Adventure creation. 
The full-length programs 
include WEREWOLVES AND 
WANDERER and THE AFTERMATH 
OF THE ASIMOVIAN DISASTER. 
This book is just £4.95 



r- \ t< 



.u 




Interface Publications, 9- 1 1 Kensington High Street, London W8 

Please send me the following books. I enclose £ 

□ Creating ADVENTURES on your ZX Spectrum 
Shaw/Mortleman — 4.95 

LJ Creating ADVENTURE programs on your Computer 
Andrew Nelson — £4.95 



5NP. 



Name 



Address: 



INTERFACE 

PUBLICATIONS 





Computer and book trade supplied by The Computer Bookshop, 
30 Lincoln Road, Olton, Birmingham B27 6PA (021 707 7544, telex 33436 



I 
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i 
i 
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42 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



COMPANY 



PRICE MICRO 



<] SCR Adventures 

190 Shelbourne Rd 
Tottenham 
London NI7 
Severn Software 

5 School Crescent 

Lydney 

Glos 

Shards Software 

189 Eton Rd 
Ilford 

Essex 



Castle Blackstar 



£8.95 Spectrum 48K 



Sierra On-Line 
Systems 

c/o Softsel 
Central Way 
Feltham 
Middx 



SHverlind 

156 Newton Rd 

Burton-on-Trent 

Staffs 

Sinclair 

| Stanhope Rd 
I Camberley 

Surrey 

Sirius 

c/o CentreSoft House 
Unit 16 

Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 
Soft Toys 
14 Lockharton Ave 
Edinburgh 
Software For All 
72 North St 
London N6 
Spectrum 

c/o CentreSoft House 
Unit 16 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

Sulis Educational 
Software 

4 Church St 
Abbey Green 
Bath 

Superb Software 

9B Oval Rd 
London NW1 
Supersoft 

Winchester House 
Canning Rd 

Wealdstone 

Harrow 

Middlesex 



Swifty 

c/o Mapsoft 
Unit A 

Oak Rd South 
Hadleigh 
Ben fleet 
Essex 
Synapse 

c/o CentreSoft House 
Bloomfield Rd 
Tipton 

West Midlands 
Temptation Software 

27 Cinque Ports St 
Rye 

East Sussex 



Grail 

Moria 

Moria 

Pettigrew's Diary 

Empire 

Jericho Road 
Mystery of the 

Java Star 
North Sea Oil 
Mission Asteroid 
Mission Asteroid 
Mystery House 
Wizard and Princess 

Cranston Manor 
Cranston Manor 
Ulysses and the 
Golden Fleece 
Time Zone 
Haunted House 
Journey to the Stars 
Passport to Death 
Pentiles 
Othello 

Embassy Assault 
(also see under 
Psion and Artie) 

Fantastic Voyage 



£6.95 Oric 48K 

£4.95 Spectrum 

£6.95 Oric 48K 

£7.95 Dragon 32, 

BBC B 

£6.95 Dragon 32, 

BBC B, Electron 

£5.75 Spectrum 48K 

£7.95 Dragon 32 

£5.75 Dragon 32 

£17.95 Atari plus drives 

£14.35 Apple plus drives 

£17.95 Apple plus drives 

£23.70 Atari, Apple 

(both plus drives) 

£28.75 Atari plus drives 

£25.50 Apple plus drives 

£25.50 Apple, IBM PC 

(both plus drives) 

£71.95 Apple plus drives 

£6.00 BBC B 

£6.50 BBC B 

£6.50 BBC B 

£6.50 BBC B 

£6.95 BBC B 

£4.95 Spectrum 



£27.95 Atari E + drives 



The Lair 


£6.00 


Vic 20 


Star Warp U 


£6.00 


Vic 20 


JR 


£6.95 


BBC 


Space Kingdom 


£7.95 


BBC B 


Area Radar Controller 


£6.95 


BBC B 


Realms of the Undead 


£5.50 


Spectrum 48K 



Time Travellei 



£7.95 Spectrum, BBC 



The Island 



£10.00 CBM 64 



Goblin Towers 


£9.95 


CBM 64 


Streets of London 


£9.95 


CBM 64 


Forestland 


£9.95 


CBM 64 


Cosmic Capers 


£7.95 


CBM 64 


Cracks of Fire 


£7.95 


CBM 64 


Catacombs 


£27.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Weird Wood 


£25.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Cornucopia 


£35.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Goblin Towers 


£14.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Cosmic Capers 


£16.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Cracks of Doom 


£16.00 


Pet 


+ drives 


Space Module I 


£18.95 


Atari E + drives 



Shamus I £24.95 
Shamus II £24.95 
Necromancer £24.95 



Dungeons of Doom £5.95 

Admiral Graf Spee £5.95 

Special Mission £5.95 

Baron £5.95 



Atari, CBM 64 
Atari E 
Atari E 



Spectrum 48K, 
ZX81 

Spectrum 48K 
ZX8I 

TI99/4A E 
Spectrum 48K, 
ZX81 



/COMPANY 



GAME 



PRICE MICRO 



Terminal Software 

28 Church Lane 

Prestwich 

Manchester 



Ultimate 

The Green 

Ashby-de-la-Zouch 

Leics 

Virgin Games 

61-63 Portobello Rd 

London Wll ■ 

Wintersoft 

30 Uplands Park Rd 

Enfield 

Middx 

Work Force 

140 Wilsden Ave 

Luton 

Beds 



Curse of the Werewolf 
Rescue from Castle 

Dread 
Magic Mirror 
Nosferatu 
Space Island 
Vampire Village 
City 

Atic Atac 
Lunar Jetman 



Castle Adventure 



Ring of Darkness 
Operation Gremlin 



Adventure in Time 



Pirate Island 



£6.95 Vic20E, 16K 

£6.95 Vic20E, 16K 

£6.95 Vic20E, 8, 16K 

£6.95 Vic 20E, 8, I6K 

£6.95 Spectrum 48K 

£6.95 Spectrum 48K 

£6.95 Spectrum 48K 

£5.50 Spectrum 48K 

£5.50 Spectrum 48K 



£6.95 Dragon 32 



£9.95 Dragon 32 
£6.95 Oric 48K 



£7.00 ZX81, 

Spectrum 48K 
£6.50 Spectrum 48K 




Atari: the programs will run on either the Atari 400 or 800 
unless E is specified, in which case extra memory is needed on 
the 400. 

BBC: the programs will run on either of the BBC micros 
unless the model B is specified, in which case extra memory is 
needed on the model A. 

Drives: if a program needs a disk drive system this is specified 
in the micro column. 

Spectrum: the programs will run on either Spectrum. 
ZX81: All programs need a 16K RAM pack, n 



DUCKWORTH 
HOME COMPUTING 

a new series 

All books written by Peter Gerrard, former editor of Commodore Computing 
International, author of two top-selling adventure games for the Commodore 
64, or by Kevin Bergin. Both are regular contributors to Personal Computer 

News, Which Micro? and Software Review. 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES 

A complete look at the fabulous world of Adventure Games for your computer 
nSXSS? 1 w!^ 11011011 to advento es, and their early history, it takes you 
gently through the basic programming necessary before you can start writing 
your own games. Inputting information, room mapping, movement, vocabulary 
tw! I 9 ret *F ed ;° wnte 311 adventure game are explored in detail 
SSfifiE f I l"? lber ° f adventure scenarios, just to get started, and finally 
In,? ofn mP 6 ?^ g , S es P eci ally for your machine, which will send 

you off into wonderful worlds where almost anything can happen The three 

ffi! S \ s m . 6aCh b °° k availabl e on one cassette at £7.95. The complete 
fSZS. adv e nture games: playing, writing and solving them. Peter Gerrard is 
the author of Romik's two top-selling adventure games - Fools Gold and Tomb 

OI AGlOpS. 



EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE COMMODORE 64 £6 95 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE VIC* £^95 

*Two of the games require 16K expansion and the third 32K 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE SPECTRUM 48K £6 95 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE ORIC 48K £6 95 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE DRAGON £6 95 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE BBC Model B £6 95 

EXPLORING ADVENTURES ON THE ELECTRON £6 95 



Oust published) 
Oust published) 

(Just published) 
(This month) 
(February) 
(February) 
(February) 



Other titles in the series include Using the Commodore 64, The Beginner's 
Guide to Computers and Computing, Sprites & Sound on the 64, 12 Simple 
ah^^u^S^I^ £ e VIC ' WU1 You hove Me When I'm 64, 

& Machine Code Programming on the 64, as well as Pocket Handbooks for 

the VIC, 64, Dragon and BBC Model B. 

Write in for a descriptive leaflet (with details of cassettes). 




DUCKWORTH 

The Old Piano Factory, 43 Gloucester Crescent, London NW1 7DY 

Tel: 01-485 3484 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 43 







S A Wilkinson from Manor Park 
has written a graphic adventure' 
called Quest for the Spectrum 
(this page). The task set for the 
player is to find five precious 
keys hidden somewhere in a 
maze which also conceals 
cities, weapons, dragons and 

ogres. 



Send us your adventure listings 
— modules which readers can 

incorporate into their own 
games, short adventures and 
useful programming routines 
are ail welcome. Please send 
us a printout and cassette 
along with a general 
description of the program and 
details of how it is constructed 
and can be used. If you want 

us to return your program, 
enclose a stamped, addressed 

envelope. If you have any 
queries on the listings, write to 
the appropriate author, Your 
Adventures, Micro Adventurer, 
12-13 Little Newport St, London 

WC2R3LD 



Spectrum quest 

in graphics 



From S A Wilkinson in Manor Park 
QUEST IS a graphic adventure based on a 
random maze for the Spectrum. Dotted 
around the maze are cities, ruins, weapons, 
dragons and ogres. The player will also find 
gold with the help of a few magical spells. 
All these are designed to either aid or 
obstruct you from achieving your goal, 
which is to find five special keys. 

At the end of the listing there is, for your 
interest, a screen display. The program 
structure is: 10-18 variables, 20-95 sets up 
screen border, 500-530 puts trees, rocks and 
swamps onto the playing area, 530-600 puts 



in random incidents, 810 prints exit door, 
820-826 prints city, 830 positions key, 
1005-1006 monster's movements, 1010-1060 
moves man, 1 100-1540 incident determining 
procedures. 

Incidents: 2000 puts key on screen, 
checks number found, 2200 — various 
objects hidden or visible in the city, 2400 
sends dragon after man, 2600 sends ogre 
after man, 2800 — weapon routine, 3000 — 
the final spell, 3200 — gold randomly 
distributed, 3800 — use of weapons, 4000 
— killed, 7000 — graphics, 9000 — random 
maze, 9900 — ends sequence. □ 



3 
4- 
S 

10 
12 

13 
14- 
17 
IS 
20 
3© 



GO SUB 135 

l_5rT u -2 : LET v =2 

CLS : BORDER 1: PfiPER ~? 

GO SLAB 7000; GO TO 9 0 0 S 

LET du=2 



LET 
LET 
LET 
LET 



d V =2 
o U =2 
O v =2 
d r =© 



31 

n; 



INK 2; PAPER- 
INK 2; PfiPER 



NK 



o - 

£1 / 



PfiPER 



IRK 2, 



cap 



ER 



LET o g =© 
FOR Fi=i TO 
PRINT AT O 
4-; BRXGHT 1 , "0" 

4-0 PRINT AT 16 ,n; 
4-; BRIGHT 1; "0" 
50 NEXT n 
t>0 j- OR n =0 TO 16 
70 PRINT AT n,0; 
4-; BRIGHT 1; **0" 

S0 PRINT AT 0,31, 
4.; BRIGHT 1; "0" 
90 NEXT n 
95 PRINT "KEYS 
PELLS UEAPONS 
99 GO SUB 500 
10© GO TO 1000 
105 LET K$ = **"' 
14-0 LET S$ = " " 
150 LET = 
_ Jf.CLi FT_ r^CTi 

400 RETURN 

500 FOR s-1 TO SO 

510 LET d-INT fRND*40 

520 LET Q$="FGHI M 

530 PRINT AT RND * 14- + 1 , RND *29 * 1 ; 



1 1 



OLD 
GO SUB S10 



-• ii • 



54-0 
550 
560 

j =3 
570 

~i =4 
530 

j =5 
590 

j =6 

610 

700 

610 
620 



NEXT S 
FOR N - 1 



LET 
LET 
LET 
LET 



TO 10 

P t f RND * 1 0 J +2 t I RND *2 O 3 + 5 



p i f RND* 1 0.1 +2, i RND s-2 Oj +5 
P f I RND* 10} +2,- (RND *20 3 +5 
P ( fRNE>*10> +2, CRND*20J +5 



NEXT N 
RETURN 
RETURN 

PRINT AT 14,29; INK 0; 
LET tx=INT (RND* IS) +2 



ty=INT f RND* 10) *10: IF p f tx . iu) = 
0 THEN GO TO 32S 



TMk' 

— 3- r r * 



i. .-ft / 



0 THEN 

825 PR 

826 LET p i 1 x / 
+ 1) =3: LET p (tX,ty+2) 

830 LET t =PNDx20 



*7t i 

t U ) r4 



t i i 



LE 



44 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



EPIC ADVENTURES 

FULL-SCALE MACHINE CODE ADVENTURES 
FOR THE BBC AND ELECTRON 




OUR EPIC BBC ADVENTURES ARE NOW ALSO 
AVAILABLE FOR THE ELECTRON. EACH GAME 
CONTAINS ALL THE DETAILS OF THE ORIGINALS 
WITH ONLY MINOR CHANGES TO THE TEXT 

*APPROX. 230 FULLY DESCRIBED LOCATIONS * COLOUR * 
ULTRA-FAST RESPONSE * SCORING * FAST GAME-SAVE ON 
TAPE * FULL-SENTENCE COMMANDS ACCEPTED * EACH 
GAME INCLUDES INTRODUCTION AND PLAYING 
INSTRUCTIONS * 

CASTLE FRANKENSTEIN: The Frankenstein Monster was 
thought to have been killed in a fire at the Castle 20 years ago, but 
a series of unsolved murders has taken place and the people fear 
that the Monster is on the loose again. Explore the graveyard and 
Castle ruins, with its secret passages, sulphur pits, etc. to find and 
destroy the Monster. 

THE QUEST FOR THE HOLY GRAIL: To become a knight of the 
round table you must find the Holy Grail and return with it to 
Camelot. Your search will take you through forest, swamp, castle, 
dungeons and rivers, and on the way you will meet many 
characters, some friendly some hostile. Can you outwit them all 
and solve the many puzzles to successfully complete your quest? 

THE KINGDOM OF KLEIN: The Wicked Witch has stolen the 
Magic Klein Bottle from its pedestal in the palace. She swore that 
she would put a hideous curse on anybody who was foolish 
enough to try to recover it. Your task is to defy the Witch's curse 
and solve the mystical properties of the 5 solids, in order to kill the 
Witch and return the Bottle to the Klein Kingdom. 

EACH GAME COSTS ONLY £7.95 inc VAT. (state BBC or 
Electron) P&P FREE if ordering 2 or more, otherwise add 50p 



EPIC SOFTWARE 

10 GLADSTONE STREET. KIBWORTH BEAUCHAMP 

LEICESTER. LE8 OHL. 
Please make cheques payable to FPIC SOFTWARF 

Df.i/ct luiuuiriKS wnlviiini 



Assassin Software 

KRAGO CASTLE — "Dungeon Adventure, 
The First Quest of Mogadishu the Elf" — 
16/48K Spectrum 

USURPER — Multi-player struggle for power in 
a fantasy world — 48K Spectrum 

NEXT WAR — The best modern war simulation 
difficulty from novice to military genius, holo- 
caust optional — 48K Spectrum 

MOONRAKER — Two player space war game 
umpteen options — 48K Spectrum 



£6.00 
EACH 

(Plus 50p p&p per order) 



CHEQUES AND PO's 
PAYABLE TO 

TOWN NATHAN 
10 ASH ROAD 
LEEDS 6 





MICR0MAGIC FOR VIC20 
MIKMAG GAMES 

PRESENT FUN, ENTERTAINMENT 
AND PURE FRUSTRATION! 

8K + GAMES 

★ CURSE OF ZOLTIN ★ 

Beat mad ZoltirYs traps and his army of Zenophons to steal his ill-begotten 
hoard of gold — if you can! Very difficult. E3 

★ SAFECRACKER ★ 

The evil Count von Tu has plans to destroy the world with his Megadoom 
bomb. Your job — among many death-defying tasks — is to find the 
combination to his safe and save civilisation. Extremely hard. £4 

* GREYHOUND DERBY ★ 

Name your own dog. Qualifying heats, betting, race commentaries. But 
can you win the Derby? Very addictive. £4 

★ HEAVYWEIGHT CHAMPION ★ 

Can you fight your way out of seedy local halls and climb the ladder to 
become world champion? A knockout game! £4 

★ POP STAR ★ 

Beat greedy managers and so-called experts to get your record to No 1 
Great fun! £3 

- UNEXPANDED- 

• KINGDOM OF VARGO • 

Virtually impossible adventure — but it can be done! Probably hardest 
game on market. £4.99 

• GRAND NATIONAL • 

Name your own horse. Race commentary, tipsters, betting, trainer's advice 
etc. Frustrating fun! £3 

• JUMPWINNER!# 

Amazing National Hunt winner-finding system now more than 200 points 
up since first advertised. No racing knowledge required. £5 buys secret 

MIKMAG GAMES 

21 HOLLYMEAD, CARSHALTON, SURREY 

DEALER ENQUIRIES WELCOME 



TheNo. 1 



Football Game 



Football Mai 

Designed by Kevin Toms w 

Some of the features of the game: 

* Matches in 3D graphics 

★ Transfer market ★ Promotion and 
relegation ★ F.A. Cup matches ★ 
Injury problems ★ Full league 
tables ★ Four Divisions 



1 



'%, 





★ Pick your own team 
for each match. ★ As 
many seasons as you 
like ★ Managerial 
rating ★ 7 skill levels 

★ Save game facility. 



ddictire 



* ZX81 Chart 

Home Computing Weekly 
1.8.83 andl 11 83. 



Comments about the game from press and our customers. 
FOOTBALL MANAGER is the best game I have yet seen on the 
Spectrum and my personal favourite of all the games on any micro . . To the ordinary 
person it is an excellent view of what can be done in the field of computer games 
The crowning glory of this game is the short sef pieces of match highlights whuch show little 
stick men running around a pitch, shooting, de'fend.ng and scoring . \ is a compulsive 
game but people who cannot fake game sessions of 9 hours or so. which happened on one 
m A^£ u n? av ' w " *? e arateful ,0 know fn a* toere is a 'save to tape' option. FOOTBALL 
2 G 5^ ?X e o r Xl h 0 in9 1! co . u ' d ■ The originator. Addictive Games, certainly deserve the 
name. Rating 19 20 (Practical Computing - August 1983). 



From software stockists nationwide, inc <@ whsmitm 



Prices Spectrum 48K £6 95 
ZX8116K £5 95 



B 3DGP> 
IN 1 



taei Dy mail |p&p freejseni 
i(jqu*fi oi postal orders lo 

4ddtcti« Games 

7A RICHMOND HILL, 
BOURNEMOUTH BH2 6HE 



Dealers! For urgent stocks send 
your headed notepaper direct to 
our address. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 45 




<1 831 
^ 332 

34-0 

LET 

1000 

1005 

1006 
1010 

>0 THEN 
1020 IF 
>0 THEN 
1030 IF 
>0 THEN 
104-0 IF 
>0 THEN 



LET X X = INT f fM*D * I 0.i 

LET Ky = INT (RND*20J 

IF t > 5 AND P f k X . X y 3 

p (Xx ,K y j =2 
RETURN 



*-2 
+ 5 
< >0 



THEN 



J-'R INT RT u 



V 



IF 
IF 
IF 



d r =1 
OQ=l 



THEN 
THEN 



GO 
GO 



SUB 
SUB 



INKEY$="5" 
LET V=V-1: 
INKEY $="8" 
LET V=v+1: 
INKEY$="6" 
LET Ussu+l: 
INKEY$="7" 
LET Li = U -1 : 



24-00 
2600 
( U . V - 1 ) 

10SO 
{ U , V + 1 ) 



AND P 

GO TO 
AND p 
GO i u 1060 
AND p (U +1 , v J 
GO TO 1060 
AND p f u - 1 , V i 
GO Tu 10e»0 



< 



BEER -1,10 



IF p{U,V)=3 THEN GO SUB 220 



IF 

GO 



RND > . 1 
= . 1 THE 



1050 

1060 RR INT RT u,v;"R" 

1030 PRINT RT 13, 5 -LEN K$;K$;flT 
18,9; G;RT 20, 5-LEN S$; S*; RT 20,1 
5-LEN 1,1$, U$ 

1100 IF INKEY$="f " THEN GO SUB 3 
S00 

1110 IF INKEY$a"S" THEN GO SUB 3 

900 

1200 IF u=14- RND V=29 THEN PRINT 
RT 16,0; FLRSH 1;" PREPA 
RE TO JUMP " : GO TO 3 

1500 IF pfu,v)=2 THEN GO SUB 200 

0 

1510 

O 

1520 
THEN 
N GO 
1530 
THEN 
N GO 
154.0 
THEN 
N GO 
1700 
1900 
2000 
2005 

2010 

2020 
2030 
204-0 
2050 
2200 
2210- 
2220 



' ROU IT I.N E 



THEN GO TO 9900 



C I TV ROUTT, 



pfu,v)=4- THEN IF 
SUB 3200,: IF RND 
SUB 4-000 

IF pCU,v)=5 THEN IF RND > - 5 
GO SUB 2800: IF RND < = . 5 THE 
SL«B 3000 j 
IF pfli,V)=6 THEN IF RND > . 5 
GO SUB 24-00: IF RND < = . 5 THE 
SUB 2600 
GO Tu 1000 
GO T O 1 000 

REM 

IF LEN K$=S 
LET K$="M" 
LET K$=K$+K$ 

PR INT RT 13,5 —LEN K $ . K $ 
LET p fu, V J =1 
RETURN 
REM 

LET C=RND 

IF C< + 1 THEN PRINT RT 15,0; 
FLRSH 1; HOSTILE CITY YOU'RE 

KILLED! '*: FOR n=l TO 50: NEXT 

n : GO TO 4-000 
2230 IF C>=,2 RND C -£ - 4- THEN PR IN 
T RT 16.0; FLRSH 1;" U ERR ON 

S SRLE MOU ON " : LET p fu , v 

)=1: LET G=G-50: FOR n=l TO 50: 
NEXT n : GO TO 2SO0 

224.0 IF C>=,4. RND C < . 55 THEN RRI 
NT RT 15,0; FLRSH 1 ; " FRIE 
NDLY WIZARD "• : LET p (U , 

V) =1: FOR n =1 TO 5S: NcXl «i : GO 
TO 3000 

2250 IF C> =. 7 RND C<.9 THEN PRIN 
T RT 15-0; FLRSH 1," RUINS 

FIND GOLD ! ! '* : LET p f U , V 3 

,s=l: FOR n=l TO SO: NEXT n: GO TO 

3200 

2260 IF C:>=,9 THEN PRINT RT 
; FLRSH 1; " BEUARE 



ON • ? 
D 24-00 
2400 REM is 



ET p fU 



V) =1 



16 , 0 
DRAG 
GO T 



R AG ON PDUITINE 



24.05 
24-10 
24-30 
24-4-0 
2450 
2500 
2510 
2515 
RT 



d u . d V ; 
THEN 

d u , d v ; 



Gu SUB 
INK 2 .: 



250O 



L ET d r = 1 
PR INT RT 
IF RND > . 
PRINT RT 
RETURN 

L ET d U =d U + f U >du) - i U ;dU i 
LET d V =d V + f V > d V ) - ( V < d V ) 
IF dU=U RND dV=V THEN PRINT 
16., 0; FLRSH 1; YOU RRE KILL 



ED BY THE 
50: NEXT 



2518 

00 

2520 
26O0 
2605 
2610 
2630 



IF p 



DRAGON ! " : FOR 
n : GO TO 4.000 
f d u ,dv J =0 THEN GO 



n=l TO 



J L; 



RETURN 
REM 
LET OQ=l 
PR INT RT 



>£RE PDUITINE 



o u , u v ; 



GO SUB 2700 

INK 2; "B" 



IF RND > . 5 THEN 

264-0 PRINT RT OU,GV; 

2650 RETURN 

2700 LET 6li=OU+ (U>DU) - fU <OUJ 

2710 LET O V =0 V + f V > O Vi - ( V < O V J 

2715 IF OU=U RND ov=V THEN PRINT 
RT 16,0; FLRSH 1; " YOU RRE KI. 

LLED BY THE OGRE ! !": FOR n=l TO 

50 : NEXT n : GO TO 4-0O0 

2718 IF p (OU,OV) =0 THEN GO TO 27 
00 

2720 RETU RN ^^^^^ 

2805 IF LEN 1,1$ > =4- THEN RETURN 

2810 LET W=INT fRND*3) +1 

2815 LET pfu,v3=l 

2820 LET A$="DEt" 

2830 LET Li$=U4 + R$ fw.1 

284-0 PRINT RT 20, 15 -LEN U$,U$ 



FLRSH 



2850 LET ptU,V)=l 
2355 PRINT RT 15,0; 
YOU GRIN R WEAPON 
2860 RETU RN 
3000 REM fclsM« 

3005 IF LEN S$>=4- THEN RETURN 
LET S =INT fRND*33 +1 
LET p f U , V) =1 
LET B*s5"OP»" 
LET S$=S$+B$(S) 
PRINT RT 20, 5-LEN S$;S$ 
LET P to , V) =1 

PRINT RT 16,0; FLRSH 1;" 
GRIN R SPELL ! 

RETU RN ■■ - - • 

REM l^««riMM»MtBra»«lgI3 

LET p fu , V) =1 
LET g=INT (t*50) 
LET G=G + g 

PRINT RT 16,0; FLASH 1;" 
FIND SOME GOLD 
324-0 LET p(u.V)=l 

3250 RETU RN 

3300 REM mJ-»W^fcljhlg»=l<mkA4gi^< 
3810 IF dU =Li OR dU=U-2 OR dV=V 

+1 OR dv=v-l THEN GO TO 3850 
3815 IF ou=u+l OR OU=u-l OR OV=V 
+1 OR OV&V-1 THEN GO TO 3820 
3817 RETURN 

3820 FOR n=l TO LEN U$: IF W$fn.X 
= "D" THEN GO TO 3830: NEXT n 
RETURN 



3010 
3015 
3020 
3030 
304-0 
305© 
3055 
YOU 
3060 
3200 
3205 
3210 
3220 
3235 
YOU 



3825 
3830 
3331 



PRINT RT U,V+1;"0" 
LET oy=0. PRINT RT 



O LI ,OV 



• ■ 



3332 LET OU=l: LET OV=l 
3835 PRINT RT 16,0, FLRSH 1; 

YOU KILLED THE OGRE! 
384-0 LET 3$ = "" 
334-1 LET U$ =3$ 
334-2 PRINT RT 20.10;" 
334.5 RETURN 

3350 FOR D=l TO LEN 1,1$; 
= ••*'■ THEN GO TO 3860 
3855 RETURN 

3860 FOR n=l TO LEN U$ 
= "E" THEN GO TO 3870 
RETURN 

PRINT RT li , V -1; "E" ; RT 



IF U$ fn.l 



IF U$(n) 



3365 
3370 

S 7 5 



U , V 



+1 



L ET d r =0 : PR INT 



3330 PRINT RT 16,0; F 
YOU KILLED THE DRAGON 
3885 FOR n=l TO 100; NEXT 
3S9G PRINT RT 16,0: FLRSH 
COLLECT THE BOUNTY 
FOR n=l TO 100: NEXT n 

3892 LET a$ = "" 

3893 LET U$ =3 it 

3394- PRINT RT 20,10;" 
3395 GO S UB 3200: R ETURN 
3 900- REM HfebtifallsflW 
3910 PRINT RT 15,0, 

SPELL? 
3915 

00 

3920 



RT dU t d V ;• 
LASH 1 ; " 



n 



00 

3925 

00 

3930 
3935 

4-000 

4-010 
4-020 



IF "XWKjEY $ — "b THEN 
IF INKEY $ = " e " THEN 
IF INKEY$= " d " 



I-m 



IF INKEY$="X 
GO TO 3900 
REM 9 



THEN 
THEN 



GO 

GO 



WHICH 
TO" 4.2 
TO 4-3 
TO 44- 



RETURN 



u,v; INK 2;" 




PRINT RT 

PRINT RT 16,0; FLRSH 1 ; " 
YOU RRE DERD 
4-030 FOR n=l TO 3 

4-04.0 BEEP ,1,0: BEEP ,1,20; BEEP 

, 1 , -30 : BEEP .1,10 
4.050 NEXT n 

4060 PRIHT AT 10 ,10, FL ASH "i">" "AH 
OTHER GAME? Y/N " 

4.070 IF INKEY$ = " y " THEN GO TO 1 
4-080 IF INKEY $ = " D " THEN STOP 
4-090 GO TO 4.070 
4-199 REM 
4-200 REM 

4-205 FOR n=l TO LEN 3$. IF S$ in) 
= "*" THEN GO TO 4-250: NEXT n 
4-210 RETURN 

4-260 PRINT RT 16,0; FLRSH 1;" 

BLAST SPELL CAST 
4-270 LET dr=0: LET og=0 
4-271 PRINT RT OU,OV;" " ; RT dU,dV 

L FT 3 * = " " 

4.276 LET S$=a$ 

4-277 PRINT RT 20,0;" 

4260 RETURN 

4-300 P E BIB '1 ( I III f)Mi 
4-305 FOR n =1 TO LEN S$: 
= "P" THEN GO TO 4-320 
4-310 RETURN 

4-320 PRINT RT 16,0, FLRSH 1; 

EYE SPELL CAST 
4330 FOR L=l TO 15 
4-335 FOR C=l TO 30 

4-34.0 IF p fL,C) =1 THEN PRINT RT L 
, C- ; INK 4, "11" 

4-34.5 IF p (L,C) =2 THEN PRINT RT L 
,C, INK 6; FLASH lj 



IF S$fn) 



46 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



4.350 IF 
, C ; INK 
4-355 



p (L t C) =3 
1; FL.RSH 
p fL , C.1 =4. 
2; FLASH 

p f L. / C- ) =5 

1; FLASH 
p CI_,C) =S 
2; FLASH 



THEN PRINT AT L 

THEN PRINT AT L 

i; 'S" 

THEN PRINT ST L 

i; "B" 

THEN PRINT AT L 



n =usr 
POKE n 



a " 
a . 



IF 

, C ; INK 
1350 IF 
, C ; INK 
4-365 IF 
,C f INK 
4380 NEXT C 
4-3S5 NEXT L 
4387 LET a$= 
A38?LI FT. _S«tijia * 
4389 PRINT AT 20,0; " 
4350 "f-iET Ut^hi 

4405 FOR r, =1 TO LEN 3$ ; IF 3$ fn> 

="0" THEN GO TO 4450 

4410 RETURN 

4420 LET a $ = " " 

4425 LET 5$=3$ 

4450 GO TO 3 

7000 RESTORE 7001 ■ FOR 
TO USR "q"+7; READ a. 
NEXT n 

7001 DATA IS • 40 . 55 . 124 . 1SS , 56 , 40 

. 4.0 . 56 ■ 40 . 4.0 . 25.4 . 136 . 136 . 170 . 170 

.. 0 , 28 , 223 , 62 , 252 „ 60 36 . 149 /S . 3 , 2 

8,8,8,8,8,8,0,24,62, 126, 126,62,2 
4,0 

7002 DATA 56,103,150,174.124.56, 
16, 16, 64 , 6 , 43, 7,240, 0, Hi ,0,0,70 
,9,6,0, 124 , 130 , 124 , 4 , 106 , 144 , 70 , 
9,96, 143, 136,0, 124,130.254, 138,1 
6 , 16 , 254 , 126 , 195 , 153 , 165 , 16 , 153 , 
195,126 

7003 DATA 0,16,15,16,16,55,16,0, 
0 , 56 , 84 , 16 , 56 , 1 5 , 16 , 0 , 72 , 40 , 24 , S 
, 12 , 10 , 0 , 0 , 0 , 126 ,66,65,55,66,66, 

66 , 0 , 0 , 24 , 36 , 219 , 50 , 24 , 0 , 0 . 0 , 32 , 
255,32,0,0,0 

7100 RETURN 

9000 DIM p (15,30) 

9001 LET 1=2: LET c =2 
A00P L FT p J\l ^..r 1 _=1 

9003 IF 1=14 AND c =29 THEN GO TO 
9006 

9005 GO SUB 9017: GO TO 9002 

9006 FOR t =1 TO IB: LET t =t LET 
C =30-t *3 

9007 FOR n=l TO 15: GO SUB 9017 
9003 IF 1=14 AND c =29 THEN LET n 
= 15 



time 




TIMEPATTERNS 



presents 



patterns 



STARGLOBE 



Britain's leading 2nd Generation Play By Mail Game 

Join the ever growing number of starship captains 
exploring a vast STARGLOBE. 

Deep in extragalactic space the sinister autocratic 
rules of planet MONDE send you out on a 
desperate mission to hunt for other civilizations, 
set up colonies and establish a communications 
station at the surface of the giant three 
dimensional globe of stars in which they are 
trapped. BUT you can rebel and fight the other 
players to establish your own starbase in order to 
pursue your own ends. 

After solving the mysteries of the starglobe and 
overcoming its dangers you can be the one to 
return to MONDE to overcome the tyranny and 
set yourself up as Lord of Monde — to rule the 
STARGLOBE - while you can - 

For introductory package and free launch of your 
Starship send £2 to: 

TIME PATTERNS 
97 DEVONSHIRE ROAD, 
BIRMINGHAM B20 2PG 

Standard rate CI per turn, No deadlines. Timepatterns 051 523 4446 



1 = 1-8-1 
THEN 



9009 LET pfl,cJ=l 

9010 NEXT n: NEXT t 

9016 GO TO 10 

9017 LET x =RND 
9020 IF x<.28 THEN LET 
9025 IF x>=.23 AND X<„5 

1=1-1 

9030 IF x>=.5 AND X<.8 THEN 
c =c +1 

:» = . S THEN LET c = c - 1 
<2 THEN LET t =2 
>14 THEN LET 1=14 
'' 2 THEN LET c =2 
>29 THEN LET c =29 



LET 
LET 



X 

I 

I 

c 
c 



(x : . 25 i - 



3 .THFN_1 FT 
X > = , 3 fiND X < - 



I X > = .25 F5ND 



5 



THEN 



LET 



9040 IF 

9041 IF 

9042 IF 
9045 IF 
9047 IF 
9050 RETURN 
9119 LET 1=1+ 

x < . 5.> 

0-l~22> LET c =-c -j fx ;: =-. 75-J -fx ; = » 5— AND 

x < . 75.1 
.9J P*w. TF 
9125 IF 
t = 1 -1 
9130 IF 
C =c +1 

9140 IF X>=,3 THEN LET c=c-l 
9900 CLS : FOR n=l TO 7: BORDER 
ri PftPER n-1: NEXT Tt 

9910 PRINT INCREDIBLE YOU COLL 
ECTED 5 KEYS" ' ' "THE KINGDOM IS Y 
OURS RETURN IN TRIUMPH" 

UIRN'T TO TRY IT AGAIN ? Y-'N" 
9920 IF INKEY$ = " y " THEN GO TO 1 
993© IF IMKEV$="n " THEN STOP 
9940 GO TO 9920 



00000000000000000000000000000000 



X > = . 5 RND X < . 8 THEN LET 



0 

0 
0 

0 
0 
0 

&€= 
0 

0 

0^; 
0 

0=? 

0 



9 



■-a 



0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 
0 

0 

r£^0 
0 
0 

0 
0 







j tin ma,l 




^ U ri ORDER 


SOFTWARE AT BETTER PRICES 0NLY 


(Dept. MA) P.O. Box 107, Uxbridge, Middlesex, UB10 ORG 


DRAGON 32 


MAD MARTHA II 


CHANNEL 8 


MAD MARTHA II 


GOLDEN BATON 


R.R.P. £6.95 Our Price £6.25 


TIME MACHINE 


LEGEND 


ARROW OF DEATH 


VALHALLA 


PULSAR 7 


R.R.P. £14.95 Our Price £12.95 


WIZARD OF AKYRZ 


GILSOFT 


FEASIBILITY EXP 


THE QUILL 


CIRCUS 


R.R.P. £14.95 Our Price £12.95 


RRP £9.95 Our Price £8.95 


MELBOURNE HOUSE 


PEAKSOFT 


THE HOBBIT 


DEATHS HEAD HOLE 


R.R.P. £14.95 Our Price £12.95 


LIONHEART 


CRL 


R.R.P £5.45 Our Price £4.95 


WOODS OF WINTER 


ALL MICRODEAL TITLES 


R.R.P. £6.95 Our Price £6.95 


R RP. £8.00 Our Price £7.75 


COMMODORE 64 


VIC 20 


BUG BYTE 


DURRELL 


TWIN KINGDOM VALLEY 


QUEST OF MERRAVID 


RRP £9.50 Our Price £8.50 


R.R.P. £7.95 Our Price £7.25 


MELBOURNE HOUSE 


QUICKSILVA 


THE HOBBIT 


TRADER TRILOGY 


RRP £14.95 Our Price £12.95 


R.R.P. £14.95 Our Price £12.95 


DURRELL 


TERMINAL 


QUEST OF MERRAVID 


RESCUE FROM CASTLE DREAD 


R.R.P. £7.95 Our Price £7.25 


MAGIC MIRROR 


ALL CHANNEL 8 


R.R.P. £9.95 Our Price £8.75 


MYSTERIOUS ADDVENTURES 


CHANNEL 8 


R.R.P. £9.95 Our Price £8.95 


BLACK SQUID 




R.R.P. £9.95 Our Price £8.95 


SPECTRUM 


ANIROG 


MIKROGEN 


DUNGEONS 


INHERITANCE 


DARK DUNGEONS 


GREAT BRITAIN LTD. 


• R.R.P. £5.95 Our Price £5.50 


ATARI OWNERS - The full range of Adventure International products 


are available at Our Prices. Send SAE for full list 


OR SEND SAE FOR OUR CATALOGUE 
STATING MACHINE 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 47 



TWO new adventures from Dial Software. Mediaeval 
adventure or fantasy adventure for BBC Micro. £4.95p each 
inc. or both for £7.50p. Hours of entertainment. Send 
cheques to Dialsoft, 72 Downend Road, Downend, Bristol 
BS16 5UE. 



INTRIGUE SOFTWARE. TI-99/4A Graphic Adventures. 
ADVENTURE MANIA. HCW reviewed Vol. 45. MANIA. Super 
Graphics and Text £5.95 each. SAE for details. INTRIGUE 
SOFTWARE (MA), Cranbrook Road, Tenterden, Kent TN30 
6UJ. Dealers Welcome (05806) 4726. 

Format 40/80 Club (BBC disc user group 5 Marsh Street, 
Bristol BS1 4AA. Adventure situation always included 
with monthly club disc. Sample issue £5.50. State drive 
format. 



ADVENTURE GAMES 

PYRAMID Travel in search of the Pharaoh's death mask. 
But can you beat the curse? 

ESPIONAGE You are an agent of the K.G.B. Can you get 
past the electrified fence and guards to steal a list of 
British agents. 
On cassette at £4.95 each. 

EXODUS, 36 Penrice Drive,, Tividale, Warley, West 
Midlands. B69 1UQ. 



HAVE an adventurous New Year! The-Hobbit £12.95, level 9, 
Digital Fantasia and Acornsoft Adventures £8.95. 
Lothlorian, Fantasy Quest, Artie, Virgin, A&F and many 
more all available at discount. (SAE stating machine.) Prices 
fully inclusive. Chipmunk Software, 64 Cherryhill Avenue, 
D'undonald BT16 OJD. 



TEXAS TI99/4A software. Wide range available from £3.95. 
Send s.a.e. for list. Apex Software (MA), Swiss Cottage, 
Hastings Road, St. Leonards-on-Sea, Sussex TN38 8EA. 



r 



DISPLAY AD INDEX 

A 












37 




C 

»"> .11 *^ r . 












ii irron i* Am r\i i + /ir<"» 






pv 

Dialsoft 


^,.^...48 




Dinital FantPtQia 


A 






o o 




D 1 1 c k \aj n rt h 


A O 




E 






F vnHi i q 


A O 




F 

Format 40/80 


48 




G 






Gilsoft 






1 

Incentive Software 






Intorf O/^Q Pi iKImitinne 


A O 










1 

Level 9 


o 




M 

Melbourne House 


20 & 21 -?fi & 97 










M 
hi 






u 






p 






R 

Red Shift 






S 

S.C.R. Adventures 












R. Shepherd Software 






T 















£0.20 


£0.40 


£0.6C 


£0.80 


£1,00 


£1.20 


£1 40 


£1.60 


£1.80 


£2.00 


£2.20 


£2.40 


£2.60 


£2.80 


£3.00 


£320 


£3.40 


£3.6C 


£3.80 


£4.00 


£4.20 


£4 40 


Please continue on a separate sheet of papei 



I make this words, at 20p per word so I enclose £ 



Name 



Address 



Telephone 



Please cut out and send this form to: Classified Department, Micro Adventurer, 12-13 Little Newport Street 

London WC2R 3LD 



Here's my classified ad 

(Please write your copy in capital letters on the lines below.) 



48 Micro Adventurer March 1984 




LET'S LOOK this month at 
some of the problems be- 
setting our adventurers, and 
see if we can give some aid. 
Speaking of which, if you are 
stuck somewhere and need 
some help don't just take! 
You will have solved puzzles 
which are keeping other 
adventurers from progressing, 
and they will be interested to 
hear of your experiences. 

The first problem is from 
Mark Esler, in Castle of 
Riddles (an A c o r n s o f t 
program, for the Beeb 
machines). You will need the 
rod, Mark, don'i throw it 
away. To solve the maze, try 
this. 1 have encoded the clue, 
as this is a popular program, 
and many other adventurers 
will be coming this way. If 
you have just started on The 
Castle, you may like to return 
to this page at a future date. 
Stating from the second letter 
of the clue, read every other 
letter. Upon reaching the end, 
you should return to the first 
letter and repeat the process. 
OGDOANSODSRREOTOU 
MRANNADTSMARYZSEOE 
SXGIOTTTORM YACZOEL 
WOAUVRESR 

This should get you into a 
very interesting part of the 
adventure, but assumes that 
you have com pleted the 

MICRO Apple 11 Adventure 
Zork I Problem How do you 

open the grating in the clear- 
ing? How can you go west from 
the timber room with a light? 
Name Laura Crean, 19 Temple 
Sheen, London. 
MICRO Vic 20 (16K) 
Adventure Pharaoh's Tomb 
Problem How do you get past 
the swamp? Name Adrian 
Mackenzie Address 69 Watling 
St, Uddington, Glasgow. 
MICRO Lynx Adventure 
Colossal Adventure Problem 
How do I open the clam and 
find the treasure chest? Name 
Christopher Day Address 19 
Eden St, Saltburn, Cleveland. 

MICRO Tl 99/4a Adventure 
Pyramid of Doom Problem 
How do you get past the giant 
oyster, purple worm or iron 
statue? Name Simon Bell 
Address 10 Bransdale, Pine 
Hills, Guisborough, Cleveland. 
MICRO Spectrum 48K 
Adventure The Hobbit 
Problem How do you get home 
from the dragon's lair? 
Name Darren Cooper Address 
White Lodge, Chastham 
Lodge, Chatham Rd, Blue Bell 
Hill, Aylesford, Kent. 



If you need advice or 
have some to offer 
write to Tony Bridge, 
Adventure Help, Micro 
Adventurer, 12-13 Little 
Newport St, London 
WC2R 3LD 




earlier part satisfactorily. 
Castle of Riddles is an absorb- 
ing, complex game in which 
the many parts mesh together 
like a large piece of 
machinery. 

The Colour Genie is a 
machine which I am not 
familiar with — the first letter 
asking for help in a Genie 
adventure arrived this morn- 
ing, from Mrs Barbara Hidley 
of Shropshire. She is currently 
stuck in The Vegan Incident, 
and can't open the crack in the 
wall, or find a use for the 
Brain Bomb. 

In Quest 6, she can't find the 
houseboat (and who is 
Doonan). Can anyone help? 
And yes, Mrs Hindley, you 
should be able to set Micro 



Adventurer at any newsagent. 
If not ask him to order it for 
you or better still take out a 
subscription. 

C J Tihanyi, of Clifton, is 
playing Ghost Town, one of 
the excellent Scott Adams 
series, and is stuck at the 
Tepee. Try a bit of music, C J, 
and keep your sense of 
rhythm. 

I can't help you in Xenos, 
which is for the TRS80 — 
does anyone know how C J 
can avoid getting blown up 
when he opens the safe? As 
for Artie's Inca Curse, to 
dowse the fire you will need 
to smother it in some way — 
and don't forget to have a 
source of light with you when 
the fire goes out. 



ADVENTURE CONTACT 



MICRO Spectrum 48K 
Adventure The Hobbit 
Problem How do I escape the 
pale bulbous eyes? Even 

r 



wearing the magic ring is no 
protection from them. Name 
David Blunden Address 49 
Little Norton Lane, Sheffield. 



HAVE YOU BEEN staring at the screen for days, or given 
up in disgust, stuck in an adventure whose problems seem 
insurmountable? Adventure Contact may be the answer. 
This column is designed to put adventurers in touch with one 
another. When you're stumped a fellow adventurer may be 
able to help — and you may be able to solve other people's 
problems. If you are having difficulties with an adventure, 
fill in this coupon and send it to Adventure Contact, Micro 
Adventurer, 12/13 Little Newport St, London WC2R 3LD. 
We will publish Adventure Contact entries each month in 
this special column. 

Micro 

Adventure 

Problem 

Name 

Address 




On the subject of Artie's 
adventures, James Jennett, 
of Widnes, has trouble on 
Espionage Island. To get past 
the lank (or rather to divert it) 
you must HS1HNITNOEHTO 
OLREC. 

This brings me to a letter 
from J R Jones, on a RAF 
base down on deepest Dyfed. 
He is stuck on Planet of 
Death, which is also from 
Artie. He is trying to get 
through the forcefield. If you 
have asked for help, J A, you 
will have had a little message 
about a waltz. Then do this: 
EFAINRDETLHAESNEDRA 
TNWCIEC. 

Finally, onto the hot 
favourite of the moment. 
The Hobbit, of course, 
continues to baffle and 
intrigue people. Some are 
stuck on Gollum's riddle — it 
is an old chestnut and, of 
course, obvious when you see 
the answer: ETRHIESAMNA 
SNW. 

The Goblin's Dungeon is 
the place where everybody gets 
stuck at one time or another, 
and about which I get more 
pleas of help than anything 
else. Try this; DGTEHTETN 
HBORREI ANKTWOICNAD 
RORWYGYOOWUEASNT. 

As usual, let me know, of 
your experiences. 

MICRO Spectrum Adventure 
The Hobbit Problem I cannot 
get to the Lake town. I have 
been to the long lake. Name 
Kenneth MacMahon Address 6 
Jubilee Gardens, Bearsden, 
Glasgow, G61 2R7. 
MICRO Dragon 32 Adventure 
Black Sanctum Problem When 
I return to the crypt with seven 
items, the figure in white does 
not return, why? Name Stuart 
J. Toms Address 2 Claypits 
Rd, Boreham, Essex. 
MICRO CBM 64 Adventure 
Fools Gold Problem Where do 
you find the saw to make the 
ladder? What use is the ancient 
shovel? Name P. Angus 
Address 141 Marlborough Rd, 
Stoke, Coventry. 

MICRO Dragon 32 Adventure 
Adventure Zoo Problem I need 
to know the route to the mage, 
which is in the maze near the 
pyramid. Name I. Feeney 
Address 16 Surrey Way, 
.Laindon West, Essex. 
MICRO Spectrum Adventure 
Planet of Death Problem How 
do I pick up the flint on the 
plateau? Name Paul King 
Address 554 Goresbrook Rd, 
Dagenham, Essex. 



March 1984 Micro Adventurer 49 





?[i¥OTO®M 




Tony Roberts tests 
your skill — send 
your answers to 
Competition Corner, 

Micro Adventurer, 
12-13 Little Newport 
St, London WC2R 
3LD 



IF YOU have been following 
this puzzle series so far, you 
really must be beginning to 
appreciate the finer points of 
the black dragon, Tisch. 

In her quest to resume the 
prominent position that 
dragons had formerly held, 
she had forced you to help 
her win back the rings of 
power, but force is no longer 
really needed — your rewards 
for penetrating the millennia- 
old defence around each ring 
so far looks as if it will make 
you very, very, rich. 

You are also learning to 
understand the logic of the 
minds that created the 
defences, such as those in this 
puzzle. 

You are to find the B ring 
and it looks easy. Tisch has 
placed it in this pile of box- 
like containers, which is 
strewn with debris. One of 
them contains the ring. The 
rest probably contain delay 
surprises that you'd rather not 
think about. 

In order to conceal the 
right box the B on its lid has 
been replaced by an A, but 
that's the very thing that 
betrays the ring's location, 
because the logical patter has 
been disturbed. 

As a tie-breaker complete 
the following sentence in less 
than 15 words. The best 
simulations are . . . 

. Your entry must arrive by the 
last working day in March. 

The winners and the solution 
will be published in our May 
issue. 

You may only enter once. 
Entries will not be acknow- 
ledged and we cannot enter 
into correspondence on the 
result. 

Winners 

CLEVER Tisch outsmarted 
many of our December and 
January readers so there are 





The best 20 answers we receive 
will win a copy of Space Shuttle 
from Microdeal. This simulation is 
available on cassette for the Dragon 
32, Spectrum 48K, Electron, Tandy 

Colour, Atari, BBC B and 
Commodore 64. The disk versions 
available are for the Commodore 
64, BBC B, Atari and Oric. Let us 
know which version you want when 
you send in your competition entry. 




Help Tisch 

recapture her 
past glory 



less than the 40 winners we had 
anticipated for the two 
competitions. 

The December winners and 
runners-up are: Graeme Foster, 
of Bourne End; A J Hitchens, 
of Bailrigg; G Colagiacomo, of 
Edinburgh; K Baker, of 
Illonois; D Gray, of Thet- 
ford; W Perry, of Norbury 
A Gale, of Ealing, W13 
G Barrett, of Cheshunt 



P Mullen, of Greyabbey; 
C Reeves, of Southampton; 
C Heath, of Norton 
Lindsey. 

The solution: the sequence 
of rooms is 2 (take small 
chest), 6 (put the pearls from 
the chest into the vases: take 
the vases, leave the chest), 8 
(lower the vases with the rope, 
untie the Ring and put it into 
one of the vases), 7 and 5 



(ignore the statue . . . you 
have nothing with which to 
remove the emerald). Then go 
outside to relative freedom. 
You end up with the pearls 
and vases. 

Only one entrant, P P Cock- 
burn, of Cambridge, in the 
January competition gave the 
correct answer. But because of 
the standard of entries we have 
awarded prizes also to 13 
runners-up. They are: 
K Sampanthar, of York; 
R Sheppard, of Blackpool; 
J Lewis, of Fradley; A Moat, 
of Glasgow; D L Tuck, of 
Essex; T Brown, of Arklow; 
E H Furnival, of Rochdale; 
R J Allan, of Peterborough; 
P Wallace, of Falkirk; D 
Cummings, of New Herring- 
ton; W Perry, of Norbury; 
R M Henderson, of Sussex; 
S Tooby, of Romford. 

The solution: 66 minutes. 




50 Micro Adventurer March 1984 



VRiV QJ^JZtooto common ana 

limitless cam! ? 4 

mid all the same old adveniu 



P 





' I 





and 



to no* ami different adventures from Salamander Software. 

In WMQS 01 W% you play £t. Roger Hfilcoe, reluctant 
hero. The time is tlovember 19*2 - you must parachute into^ 
occupied hance. disguised as a Qerman Officer, infiltrate a % 
secret arms laboratory hidden in a chateau, steal the plans \ 
and the prototype of a new bomb, and make good your | 
escape back to Blighty. . , I 

| Star of Wings of War. 




W$ Jn 7H£ aicmwoov mcmm you. Moid q. 

Vi^r Volestrangler the nth heir to the Volestrangler fortune, find 
yourself bored out of your mind and looking for something to 
do until the laundrette opens. There's nothing for it but to 
leave your padded celt and search the wilds of Condon, 
Moscow, Hanoi and Hfigan for the elusive Holy Qrail. 
j(j|^Vf07 for sheep of a sensitive disposition. 

;f %MfiVlS tlflSJy h H dmcnom 

ftot the star of the Cricklewood Incident. 





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Stimulate yourself 



Vlease add 50p p&p 



£f.95 each. 

orders. Send #5 SM /* 



atalogue. 




SOFT uu n R 




1? tlorfotk Jlaal Brighton, Bfll 3fifi Telephone: Brighton (0Z?3) mm 

Look for these other new releases from Salamander Software 

DMQOH - V2S (sophisticated database) £1* 95 BBC - MM (original arcade action) £? 95 

7WZT££ QMVHKS (Educational & fun) £9.95 BBCIi£tClHOn - TUZBO COmVUZZ (BASK compiler) £9.95 
flow available are versions of our best selling IS? Might Simulator for BBC disk and MOJM Electron. 



SPREAD THE WORD 




EXPERIENCE THE DEVASTATING SOUND OF MICROSPEECH ON YOUR SPECTRUM 

ju EVERYONE FINDS IT FUN BECAUSE IT'S EASY TO USE 
(it says any word you want it to say) 

AJ EXCLUSIVE TECHNOLOGY MEANS ALL SOUND IS NOW PUT THROUGH YOUR TV 
P AND THE GAMES WITH SPEECH SPEAK FOR THEMSELVES 



ULTIMATE.. Lunar Jetman BUG BYTE. .Birds and the Bees OCEAN. .Mr Wimpy.. Hunchback.. Moon Alert QUICKSILVA.. Mined Out ... 

:...ROMIK..3D Monster Chase.. Shark Attack..Colour Clash MARTECK.BIastermind MOGUL. Las Vegas Lady CRYSTAL.The Island 

DIGITAL FANTASIA.. Mysterious Adventures (Parts 1-1 0) LYVERSOFT.. Lunar Rescue BRITANNIA. .Grand Prix Driver CDS.. Time Bomb 

ARCADIA.. Mushroom Mania PSS.. Blade Alley MR MICRO..Crazy Golf.. Punchy.. Harlequin DkTRONICS..Maziacs 

(some of these games are new versions of original programs) 



AND THIS ISN'T THE END OF IT! 

NEW PROGRAMS FROM 

POSTERN 
VIRGIN 

SALAMANDER 
VISIONS 
INCENTIVE 
MIKROGEN 
SOFTEK 
ABBEX 
ANIROG 
AUTOMATA 

HEWSON CONSULTANTS 
RICHARD SHEPHERD 
SOFTWARE PROJECTS 
THOR 
FANTASY 
MICROMANIA 
M.C.LOTHLORIEN 

WILL BE APPEARING SOON 



AVAILABLE FROM COMPUTER DEALERS NATIONWIDE INCLUDING 
COMET . W.H.SMITH . JOHN MENZIES . WOOLWORTHS . GREENS . SPECTRUM 




You won't wait long when you order from us! 

Send to: MICRO SPEECH OFFER, P.O.BOX 1, GATESHEAD NE8 1AJ 
or telephone: NEWCASTLE (0632) 824683 

Please send me MICRO SPEECH units. 

Name (Print clearly) 

Address 



Postcode 

I enclose Cheque/Postal Order payable to " Micro Speech Offer" 

or debit my Barclaycard/Access account No. I I I I I I I I I I I I I ~| 

I understand that I can have my money back within 10 days of purchase if I am not delighted. 
Please allow 21 days for delivery. 12 months parts and labour guarantee. 

Signed Ref 



COMPLETE DETAILS ARE ON OUR LEAFLET 
PICK ONE UP FROM ANY STORE 



C|U|R|R(A|H| 

IjulSlPlElEM ONLY 



£29.95 



EACH 



including p FREE SPEECH GAME "MYSTIC TOWER 

ju COMPREHENSIVE MANUAL 
ju DEMO CASSETTE